


A Place to Call Home

by horseluvr00



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adoptive family, Avengers Family, Family, Family Fluff, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Figure Steve Rogers, Friendship, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, I take Requests and/or Suggestions, I'm new to this site, Junior SHIELD program, Kidnapping, OC becomes a SHIELD agent, OC feels, OC finds a new home with Avengers, OC stays at tower until permanent home is found, OC teenager, Original Character Orphan, Original Character has abilities, Original Character is secretive (at first), Original Character is shy, Original Character(s), Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other, Overprotective Steve Rogers, Past Violence, Please bare with me, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Steve Rogers, SHIELD, Sadness, Stark Tower, Steve Feels, Steve gets attached, Story is nowhere near over, This story also has two one shots, Violence, all the feels, cuteness, just remembering more tags, that's a lot of tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-10
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-06-01 11:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 65,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6517372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horseluvr00/pseuds/horseluvr00
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been 5 months since The Battle of New York and Kate Sanders is living a normal life with both her parents and her older brother. Having two scientist parents and a brother in the Army should seem normal enough. Although, having a abnormal ability, or superpower isn't something some people would consider normal. And things couldn't have happened faster when they take a turn for the worst.<br/>Brother killed in action, Kate finds herself running away from home only to be kidnapped. Tortured, beaten, and punished because she's different- Kate comes to realize trust isn't something that should come easy. So when SHIELD finds her 8 months later, Kate choses not to tell them that she has an ability nor what it is. Adamant to have her open up for security reasons, Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury allows the teenager to stay at Stark Tower so the Avengers can get Kate to open up. Will Kate find a place to call home? Can the Avengers show her again what it means to have a family?</p>
<p>(I take requests and suggestions)<br/>(This story is also on fanfiction.net under the same username)<br/>(Follows MCU pretty well only Kate is there and the characters are changed just a little)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rescued

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, I'm gonna start by saying that I am new to this site, but I have been a write on fanfiction.net for about 2 years now. A friend convinced me to give this site a try and see if I can hook a few new readers onto this story! :)  
> I'm still working out the kinks so please bare with me as I figure this out as I go along XD  
> I use a lot of little smilies and crap in my notes so you'll have to deal with those too.... sorry about that :D  
> This story currently has 85 chapters on fanfiction but I will be updating this story one chapter at a time, probably one chapter a week. Looks like I'll be doing Sunday. Also, I have an extremely busy school-type schedule and I stress like you don't believe over my education. So updates might stray off the schedule a smidgeon.  
> I'm in Highschool currently so tests here, tests there, tests everywhere.  
> Anyway, hope you enjoy the first chapter of this story :)

So there I was, sitting at my desk, sketching. It was a breezy fall day, just like any other weekend during the school year. –hold that thought. Let me start again.

My name is Kate Sanders. I'm a 15 year old girl from Fredrick Maryland. Some of my hobbies include Karate, shooting; hunting, hiking, Skateboarding, and I study wild life for nature and animal reserves. I'm an absolute animal lover; my parents say I have a "connection" with them... if- you know what I mean.

Oh, and I should also mention that I'm a bit... Well, how do I put this... Different. It's hard to explain, all I can say is that one day my parents sat me down and explained it all to me. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday… At least I wish it was yesterday..

~0~

8 MONTHS LATER…

Agent Clint Barton walked onto the bridge of the SHIELD Helicarrier. He walked up to Director Fury.

"Sir, Coulson's got the team ready." Clint says. Fury turns to him.

"Good. Dispatch when ready." Clint gives a nod before walking off.

Coulson was taking some agents to a ware house in the heart of downtown New Jersey. They had apparently been capturing people with "abilities" and torturing them. To them they were just animals. And after the battle of New York, SHIELD wasn't going to let this continue. Several kidnappings had been reported in the area, including some in the state of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Agent Natasha Romanoff and Captain Steve Rogers were also on this mission with him. They were going to find and detain all of those ass holes behind this operation. And also try to figure out some of these people with abilities.

Clint met up with Natasha at the black SUV.

"Looks like you're ready to go." Clint says; looking her over, seeing her in her suit. She gives a nod.

"Same with you." She says. He gives a nod. Captain Rogers walks up to meet him, dressed in plain clothes with a SHIELD jacket, and not his patriotic get up. "I see you're ready to go." She says sarcastically. Steve shrugs.

"No need to draw unwanted attention." He says in his no-emotion tone. Coulson walks up to them.

"Alright." He begins. "Let's go."

~0~

They arrive at the location around an hour later. Everyone spills out of the cars and goes for the front door. Coulson is the first to enter. They all walk around a corner and see a lay out that looks like a bar, with TV's, couches, and so on. Several people were there, laughing and getting drunk, waving their guns around like idiots.

"Excuse me!" Coulson yells over the noise. It dies down and they all look at the intruders. "I'm with the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics division. We'd like to speak with you." He begins.

"What the hells does that mean to me?" The drunken guy says. Suddenly several other guys come around the corner they were smiling and talking amongst each other when they saw the SHIELD team. They smiles fade and they looked serious. Coulson nods to the team and some agents walk toward them.

"We gotta get out of here!" One says and they run the opposite direction. Romanoff, Barton, Rogers, and Coulson are left.

"Ok, while our other agents are in pursuit, we'll scope out the area for the hostages. " They give a nod and spread out.

~0~

Coulson walked up to a door and looked inside, it was empty. The only thing in there was some old furniture and a rolled up rug. He continues to the next room, there was a body on the floor. He runs over and turns her over. Blood covered her chest and neck. Someone slit her throat. He closes the eyes and stands up, walking toward the door.

"Coulson." His com beeped.

"What is it Rogers." He responds.

"I think I found one." Coulson puts his com away and heads to the location.

…

Coulson walks up to Captain Rogers, who was kneeling down and looking at something in the corner of a room. Coulson sees the door broke at the hinges. I guess that's one way to get in. Coulson thought. Steve turns to him.

"She won't come out." He says. Coulson looks up seeing a girl huddled in the corner. She was skinny and her clothes were almost rags. His shirt was a flannel, one sleeve was gone and it didn't cover most of her stomach. She wore jeans that were ripped up and dirty. He brown hair was matted with what looked like blood and her arm and face had blood on them too. Coulson looked at Steve who just shrugged.

"Miss?" Coulson spoke up. "I'm with SHIELD, were here to help." He pulls out a water bottle from his bag and walks forward.

She shrinks into the corner more and Coulson sets the water bottle down gently in front of her. Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff come around the corner. The girl's eyes go wide as the number of people in the room grows. She tries to get as small as possible.

"Coulson, we found some others. We already have them ready to go." Natasha said. She glances at the girl before looking at Coulson.

"Alright." He turns to Captain Rogers. "Just keep her company til we get back. Try to get her out if you can." He nods and Coulson follows Romanoff and Barton out.

~0~

I don't know how long I've been here. The days started blending together quickly. I do not remember much else. Only the pain and the torture. But something was different today. These people showed up I haven't seen before. I'm scared. They haven't hurt me yet. But I can't trust them. I can't trust anyone after what they did to me.

Right now there was a man kneeling down in front of me, urging me to come out of my corner. I want to. But I can't. What if he tries to hurt me? They set a bottle of water down in front of me. I haven't had water in days. My throat was on fire as I stare at the water. I want it really bad. But if I show any signs of wanting it, they might hurt me again.

I know I will die here. But if these people are really telling the truth, and they want to help…maybe, just maybe…I'll live to see my parents again.

"Please come out." He says. I gulp eyeing him, and then the water. He looks at the water. He comes a little closer and I cringe; looking at the floor. "I'm uh; Captain Rogers but you can call me Steve." He says. He stops and looks at me before pushing the water closer to me. "It's ok, take it." He says. I look at it. What if it was poisoned like last time? Or it was just salt water to make my throat burn for a sip of fresh, clean water? But... if it was really clean… "Here." He picks it up and takes a small sip. "It's clean, you can drink it." He puts it down gently in front of me.

Aw, hell. Now I really want the water. I thought. I swallow, and scoot an inch closer and don't take my eyes off him as I put out a shaky hand and take the water. After taking off the cap, I take a small sip.

Holy. Crap. I must have died and gone to heaven. I chug the rest and see pity in his eyes as I finish it and place it in front of me.

~0~

Coulson walks up to the door, he was about to enter when he sees the girl was out of the corner and looked less scared. He stops to watch.

"I promise, no one will hurt you." Steve says. Coulson eyes the girl, she looks at him and she immediately scoots back into the corner. Steve stands up and turns around, seeing Coulson.

"It's ok, he's a friend." He says turning back to her. She had her eyes on Coulson. Steve turns back.

"We need to head out soon." Coulson said. "If we can't get her out willingly, then we'll need to sedate her." Steve looks at her than Coulson.

"You sedate that kid and she'll never trust anyone!" He whispers to him. Coulson huffs.

"I don't like it any more than you do but the building will be self-destructing in fifteen minutes, so you better hurry up if you think you can get through to her." He gives a nod and Coulson walks into the room.

"Miss, this building it about to self-destruct. If you don't come with us now we can't guarantee your safety." Coulson says. The girl swallows and looks at the floor, then the wall. Steve puts a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll take it from here." He said.

"You sure?" He asked. Steve nodded and walked back over to where he was and Coulson went for the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He said and left. Steve watches him go.

"You should just leave." She suddenly says. Steve's head twists around to face her. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy.

"You should too." He says. She shakes her head. "Come on." He says in a playful tone. "A girl your age has a whole life ahead of her. Why would you throw that away?" He says, kneeling down with a smile. Her lip twitched up into a barely noticeable smile, a saddened smile. She doesn't respond.

They sit in silence for a few minutes while Steve is trying to figure out what to say.

"Please come with us." He says. "You won't regret it." He tries to convince her. Coulson walks in.

"Time to go."

~0~

"You won't regret it." The guy Steve says. Another guy walks in and I look up.

"Time to go." He said. Steve nodded and turned to me. I look around. Did I really want to die in this hell hole?

I hesitantly look at him before inching a bit closer and pushing myself to my feet. They both smile as I take a step forward. I stumble, feeling pain in my ankle. Steve catches my arm and I flinch away. He gives me another pitiful look before I follow the other guy out with Steve following.

~0~

Coulson walks onto the bridge of the Helicarrier. He walks up to Director Fury.

"We found them all sir, they being cleaned up and detained." He reports. Fury turns to him.

"All of them?" He asks. Coulson nodded. "Did all of them have abilities?" Coulson nods, and then is hesitant.

"All accept one; we can't seem to get through to one enough to find out. She is completely erased from all files, it's like she never existed." Coulson says.

"Well figure it out then. We need to know if these people pose a threat to anyone." He made clear. Coulson gives a nod then walks off.

~0~

They had put me in a steel room. There was a small twin bed in the corner and a small bathroom as well. They gave me some clothing and some soap to clean up.

I don't know what I'm doing here. I can't trust anyone! Not after everything that's happened… If they tried to use my ability for bad, I just couldn't let that happen. I do want to trust them, but I can't give in just yet.

They gave me a jacket with their symbol on it and some black cargo pants and combat boots; I guess that's all they had. After freaking out in the shower I came out and towel dried my hair and sat on the bed. I haven't taken an actual shower in like forever.

I can't go to sleep; if I do they might hurt me. Like the other people. But I can't help but slowly drift off into a dreamless sleep.

~0~

Coulson met up with Romanoff, Barton, and Captain Rogers in the hall.

"How is she?" Steve asked. Coulson sighs.

"She's scared. She won't eat any of the food we leave and half the time she won't sleep, either from nightmares or she's just plane scared and won't let her guard down." Coulson says.

"Is she showing any signs of injury?" Natasha spoke up.

"She'll be heading to medical soon; we'll have to sedate her." He glances at Steve who didn't look thrilled.

"Did you find a name or anything for that matter?" Clint asked. Coulson shook his head.

"These people really didn't want her to be found." A doctor walks up.

"We're ready for her." He says. Coulson nods to the door and they go in, along with a big a needle to sedate her.

Steve looks at Coulson, disapproving. Coulson sighed and followed the doctors with the girl on a stretcher.

~0~

I woke up to dim lighting. I was sore and felt a bit weak. I slowly sit up and rub my head. What the hell had just happened? I remember just sleeping-feeling pain in my arm- then sleeping again and waking up.

What I didn't realize was that someone had entered the room. I scurry into the corner at the front of the bed.

I did recognize this person though. The guy Captain Rogers from the ware house. He had something in his hand and I wanted to know what it was. Was it pepper spray? A Taser!? I thought.

"Brought you something." He says walking forward. He holds out a lollipop. I let out a breath. Thank the lord. I thought. "It's uh- all they had in the cafeteria that didn't look like it was from another planet." He says with a smile. I let out a very small laugh.

He tossed it to me and I catch it clumsily. It was surprisingly one of my favorite flavors. Watermelon. I slowly take the rapper off it and inspect it, looking for and kind of poison or something. He laughs.

"It's not poisoned." He says playfully. I give a nervous smile before I put it in my mouth.

Once again, Holy. Crap. I haven't tasted anything this good in such a long time! I take my time enjoying the sugary goodness.

"What's your name?" He asks after clearing his throat. I stop, looking at him, then the floor. I hesitate.

"K-Kate." I say nervously. "Sanders." I finish. He nods.

"And uh, who old are you?" I swallow.

"Fifteen." I say. I knew I was giving away too much information, but something told me I could trust him with it.

"Ok, well. I'll give the info to Coulson and if we find anything we see about getting in contact with your parents." He gives a small smile before getting up and leaving. I smile and put the lollipop back in my mouth.

Maybe they aren't so bad after all. I thought. I can't wait to see my parents!

~0~

Captain Rogers walks up to Coulson, Agent Romanoff, and Agent Barton.

"Her name is Kate Sanders, and she's 15." He begins. Coulson turned to him.

"You got her to talk?" Natasha asked. He nodded. Clint laughs.

"Yeah, by bribing her with candy." He chuckles.

"Well was I supposed to bring her a plate of vegetables?" He jokes. Natasha rolls her eyes.

"Did you find anything else out?" Coulson demanded. He shook his head.

"I wasn't going to overwhelm her with questions, Coulson." He makes clear. Coulson huffs.

"Well Fury's growing impatient and we need to contact her parents." Coulson said. They all nod. "You said Kate Sanders?" Coulson said. Steve nodded. "Alright. I see what I can get on her parents. In the meantime, leave her be until I say otherwise." They all nod.

~0~

Coulson walks up to Director Fury.

"Sir, we found out some information on the girl." Fury presses a few buttons on the control and looks at him.

"Did you find her parents?" He asked. Coulson face was grim.

"They were killed shortly after our departure from the ware house. Someone must really be taking this seriously in order to kill off her connections." Coulson said. Fury sighed.

"They always are." He said.

"Where should we send her?" He asks. Fury looked out the window.

"Find out what her power is, if she has one. Then we'll determine what to do with her."

"With all due respect sir, I highly doubt she's a threat. She just endured a very dramatic experience, she can barely stand right now as it is." Coulson said; slightly defending her. Fury gives him a look.

"And will all due respect agent, my job is to insure the safety of the whole population, not just one messed up kid." He mocks. "Dismissed." Coulson gives a nod and walks away.

~0~

Coulson passes Captain Rogers in the hallway.

"Did you find anything out?" He asked. Coulson nods.

"Her parents and other close family are dead." Coulson said. Steve hesitates before nodding.

"What are we gonna do." He asked.

Coulson sighs and shrugs.

"Honestly, once Fury finds out her power and declares whether or not she's dangerous she'll be dumped out on the streets or sent to the sandbox." Coulson said. Steve huffs.

"Are you gonna tell her?" He asked. Coulson gives him a look. "You can't be serious." He said realizing his plan.

"I am. She knows you the most and trusts you more than any of us right now; I think she'd take it better from you." Coulson said. He sighed before giving a nod.

"You want me to tell her now." He said. Coulson nodded.

"The sooner she knows the better."

~0~

I hear a door open and open my eyes to see Captain Rogers walk in. I sit up and sit on the edge of my bed instead of the corner against the wall.

He didn't look happy. My small smile disappears and I think I know what he's about to say.

"Um, Kate?" He began, pulling a chair up. I swallow. "I have some bad news...your parents are gone." He says slowly.

I knew it.

My eyes water a bit, but I hold them back.

"I know." I said quietly. He furrows his eyebrows. "B-Back at the ware house, they would threaten me." I said. "They would tell me…they'd kill my family if I tried to escape or disobey them." I said, my lip quivering.

I wipe a single tear away and continue. "I knew they weren't lying...It happened to one girl already at the time, she would stand up to them... She's dead." I say, remembering the moment.

"She meant a lot to you." He could tell.

"Yeah." I hesitate before saying so. "They beat her to death. I was lucky enough to survive that day." I say. I look away and try to think happier thoughts.

"I'm sorry." He says. I smile and wipe away another tear.

"Don't be. If I wasn't where I was that day none of this would have happened, and my parents would be alive. It was my fault from the beginning." I say, and then I stop. I'm getting ahead of myself here. I thought. I'm getting way to comfortable way to fast. I pull myself farther onto my bed and lean against the wall.

"Hey, none of this is your fault." He made clear. I don't respond and hug my knees.

He gets up and walks for the door.

"I'll check in on you later." He says. I nod and he leaves. As soon as the door closes I can't hold in my tears any longer as they start to trickle down my face.

~0~

Coulson meets Rogers outside the door.

"Well?" He asked. Steve sighs.

"She kinda knew." Coulson raised an eyebrow. "She said that the people holding her were threatening to kill her parents if she tried anything." He said. Coulson nodded.

"Alright, we'll that's one less thing to worry about. If she's given the all clear when we don out her ability, I've been looking into some foster homes-"

"Are you sure that's the best thing for her right now?" He questions. Coulson gives him a look.

"Don't get attached." He says.

"I'm not getting attach-"

"Yes you are. When she's ready, we'll have to find her a foster home til she can find a family." Coulson says.

"How would you define ready for her?" He asked. Coulson was running out of ideas.

"What are you suggesting?" He asked. Steve shrugs.

"That she stays here..." Coulson narrows his eyes.

"Until she's fully ready and confident that she can be on her own." He adds.

"What makes you think she's not?" He demands.

"She won't trust anyone." He says.

"Except you." Coulson states.

"...that's different." He says. "I was probably the first nicer person she's seen in months." He says. Coulson smirks.

"She's not a puppy, Rogers. You'll need to get over it when she's gone." He turns to walk away.

"I'm not getting attached Coulson!" He raises his voice a bit. "I just care about it more than you." He said. Coulson gives a nod.

"If you say so." He says, and then walks off. He is left standing there.

~0~

At stark tower...

Natasha and Clint had gone back to the tower. Pepper greets them at the door.

"Hey!" She says. She gives Natasha a small hug along with Clint. "How was the mission?"

"It was ok, a success I would say." Natasha says; grabbing a soda from the fridge.

"Is Steve with you?" She asked, looking around.

"No, he's still on the carrier with his little friend." Clint smirks. Natasha punches his shoulder "Ow!" He hissed.

"What friend?" Pepper asked.

"There were some kids, at the ware house. They were tortured and some of them killed. He's been able to get through to the last one we have yet to find a family for." Natasha says.

"He's getting attached." Clint says with a grin. Natasha elbows his ribs. "Ow." He laughs. She rolls her eyes.

"What about her family?" Pepper asked. Natasha shook her head.

"Coulson looked at some disturbances in the past 72 hours; her parents were killed last night." Natasha said. "Coulson's been trying to find a foster home til we find out her ability".

"That's horrible." Pepper says. Natasha nodded. Then her face brightened. "She could stay here!" Pepper says. "Right Tony?!" She yells to Tony who was sitting on the couch fixing something as usual.

"What?" He asked after like a minute. She rolls her eyes.

"You know, until you find a home for her she could have one of the guest rooms." Pepper offers. Natasha sighs.

"I don't know Pepper..." She starts.

"Tell Nick, that she can. The offers open." Pepper says before getting back to cooking. Natasha just gives a nod and walks over to the couches and sits. She pulls out her phone.

~0~

Coulson was on his way to the bridge when his phone rang. He pulled it out. It was Natasha.

"Romanoff?" He starts.

"Hi Coulson. I told Pepper about the girl." She says.

"And?"

"She says she can stay at Stark Tower til everything's sorted out. It could help with her people skills I'll give it that. If she can survive Stark she can survive anything." Coulson smirks.

"I don't know. If she gets too attached to you all, it will be hard to send her away." Coulson says.

"Don't worry Coulson, we won't get attached. Just tell Fury."

"I'll talk it over with him." He hangs up and walks toward the bridge.

~0~

I was sitting on my bed, trying to think about my options. I knew the most obvious thing was they would put me into foster care. I can't deal with that. Needing to impress people so they'll take me home and give me a life? No thanks.

Maybe I could figure out something and just get a job, find an apartment. I can shoot, and fight pretty well. I'm a bit rusty. But it's not something you forget.

Maybe I could teach shooting or fighting lessons!

I'm taken out of thought when the door opens. I look up and see the guy called Coulson.

"Ms. Sanders, we've located a place for you to stay in the meantime." I give a small nod. "If you'll follow me, we'd like to get you ready." I hesitate.

Do I go with him? My breath gets quicker. I'm very nervous, Captain Rogers said he was a friend but can I take his word for it? He hasn't given a reason NOT to trust him yet though.

Making up my mind, I slowly get up and follow him out.

~0~

Steve walks into the communal floor of the tower. Pepper walks up to him.

"So when is she coming?" She asked. Steve raises an eyebrow.

"The girl, Kate!" She says.

Steve's eyebrows shoot up. "Wait,-" Natasha walks up.

"Coulson pulled some strings with Fury. She'll be staying here in the meantime." Steve hesitates before saying something. Clint comes up next to him.

"Be happy Cap, your little friend's gonna visit!" He jokes. Steve shoves him and looks at Pepper.

"When was this decided?" He asked.

"I think it was after you left the carrier." She said. He nods.

Pepper walks up to Natasha.

"Does she have anything clothing wise?" Pepper asked. Natasha shook her head.

"As of right now she doesn't own anything really." Pepper nodded.

"Here, why don't you come with me to get her some clothes?" Natasha gives her a look. "It'll be fun! Come on."

"Why do I need to go?" She asks in a pissed off tone. Pepper gives her a face.

"One, I don't know what she likes, and two I don't know what size she is." Natasha sighs.

"She's around my size a little taller though and she looks more tomboy." Natasha tries to sum up. Pepper nods.

"I know just the place!" She says excitedly.

A few hours later...

Pepper and Natasha had gone to 3 different stores and got a few outfits. Natasha made sure she had something comfortable, while Pepper picked out some outfits that were more fashionable.

~0~

The SUV pulled up at Stark Tower. I could see the front door.

Was I ready for this? Moving into Stark Tower?! I was an absolute fan of the avengers before everything happened to me. So living in Tony Stark's huge tower was just plain crazy.

I was so scared. I'm really going to mess this up. I thought. I'm going to drive everyone crazy. No to mention I hate when people pity, or try to help me. Even before it happened, my trust issues needed attending. My parents use to talk to me about it...I never listened...

Coulson opens the door and I look outside wide eyed. It was noisy and loud. Cars were everywhere same with people. This was New York though. I thought.

"Ms. Sanders?" Coulson grabs my attention and I cautiously get out of the car and look around. It was big, and different. I had never been to the city before, and I felt more vulnerable than ever now.

I follow Coulson to the elevator. He typed in a code and pushes a button. We begin to go up. I stare at the wall nervously. I didn't see Coulson eyeing me.

"Don't worry." He says. "As long as you just be yourself, you'll fit in just fine." He tells me. I swallow and nod. The elevator dings as we stop. I let out a shaky breath. Here we go. I thought.

It opens and I look around in shock. It was awesome! We step inside. A woman with ginger hair came up to me; I take a small step back.

"Hi Kate! Welcome, I'm Pepper." She says with a smile. I gave a small smile, but still remain closed off.

"She's a little shy." Coulson whispers. She nods.

Two other people enter the room; I recognized them as Natasha and Clint.

Natasha gives me a small smile and Clint smiles and sits on a stole.

"Well, I have a room for you ready if you want to see it." Pepper says. I look at Coulson who nods. I turn to Pepper and follow her.

...

Coulson walks up to Natasha and Clint.

"Report if you find anything out regarding her ability." He said. They nod and he heads for the elevator.

...

I follow Pepper into a room. She opens the door and a gasp escapes my mouth. It was amazing. There was a beautiful queen size bed with a forest green and brown comforter. And the walls were a cream white. There was a desk that matched the bed set and a dresser and night stand.

"I know it's not much but, it should do for now." Pepper said. I wanted to say otherwise. This was incredible. "There's a bathroom to." Pepper says. I follow her. It was also pretty neat- for a bathroom anyway.

There was a sink and an awesome mirror that matched the bed set. There was a little privacy for the toilet and there was a tub next to the shower in the corner of the room, two brown rugs were on the floor.

"T-Thank you." I say, still awestruck. Pepper puts a hand on my shoulder.

"It's the least we could do. Now, if you want to get cleaned up, there are all sorts of hair products and soap in the cupboards under the sink and clothes in the closet." She says. I nod and she leaves the room.

Alright, she's gone. I walk back into the room and look around. This was too much. I'm not used to all of this.

I walk over to the closet and open the two doors, a few different outfits were hung up and there was a skate board on the floor in the corner there was a tag on it with a bow. It said:

From Natasha and Clint

I smiled and look through all the outfits. Some of them said army on them. Thoughts of my brother started going through my head and I felt tears come to my eyes thinking about him. I push the thoughts away and I go over to the desk and look out the window in front of it. I open the drawls seeing all sorts of pens and pencils with other supplies. I looked for some plain paper when I opened the last draw and see a sketch book with a note on it. I pick it up and read it.

From Steve.

I smile and take the sticky note off it and open it up, I begin to sketch. As I sketch, I take a moment to stop and look out the window. Then the thought hit me. I was living with the avengers.


	2. Fury's Orders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter, hope you all enjoy it :)

Pepper was making dinner when Steve walks in.

"Where were you?" She asked. He shrugged before responding.

"Running." He walks over and grabs water from the fridge.

"Well you missed Kate arriving." She says.

"She doesn't need an audience." Pepper hands him a plate. Clint walks over and grabs two plates, handing one to Natasha.

"Pepper, has Kate eaten yet?" Natasha says.

"Um, no she hasn't. Steve could you take this plate to her?" Pepper holds out a plate. He nods; setting his down and taking hers to the elevator.

~0~

Steve walks up to the door and knocks. A second later it opens and Kate looks up. She gives a small smile.

"Pepper's orders." He says, handing her the plate of food.

"Thanks." She says, taking it before looking down at the meal.

"No problem." He replies with a smile. She walks over to her desk and sits back down; he walks in and looks around.

"Hey, thanks for the uh, sketch book." She says hesitantly. He smiles wider.

"You're welcome; it'll give you something to do." He says. She smiles, nodding. She takes a bite of the fish and stops, staring at it.

"Wow. That's good." She says. He chuckles.

"You had fish before?" He said. She nods.

"Yes, but not for a long time. My mom use to prepare the best fish..." She says; her smile goes away for a second. Steve looks over at her for a moment, watching as she stared into her plate and flashed a pitied look. They sit in silence for a minute.

"Well, I'll let you finish." He says. She nods and he walks out; closing the door behind him.

~0~

The next morning, I woke up from the best sleep I had this year. I flinch when I don't recognize where I am, then it starts coming back. I look up and see a beautiful view of the city.

I sit up and rub my eyes. Yawning I scoot out of bed and walk toward the bathroom.

"Good morning Ms. Sanders, I hope you are well rested." A voice says. I jump at the sudden voice and look around me. Where the hell did that come from? I thought. "I do not think you will find me in the room Ms. Sanders." I remember Coulson saying something about this.

Some kind of AI called Jarvis.

"Um, good morning Jarvis." I say; then head to the bathroom.

After taking 15 minutes to decide on what soap I wanted to use, I took a long shower.

I come out of the bathroom in a forest green robe. I go to the closet to pick out an outfit.

~0~

On the communal floor, everyone, excluding Tony and Bruce who were still in the lab, was eating breakfast.

"Has anyone seen Kate this morning?" Clint asked. Pepper shook her head.

"Jarvis said she was up a while ago..." Pepper says. Just then the elevator door dings and Kate hesitantly walks out. Pepper smiles.

"Good morning, Kate. Did you sleep well?" She says from the kitchen. Kate smiles.

"Yes, thank you." She walks into the kitchen. Pepper looks her over seeing her wearing one of the new outfits.

She had on black ripped skinny jeans, a black shirt that said army, with a tan jacket over it with black combat boots.

"Oh my god Kate! That looks so good on you." Pepper says looking her over. Kate smiles.

"Thanks." She says with a laugh. Pepper handed her a plate and she got some food before sitting down. Clint and Natasha smile, and Kate returns the smile. Steve smiles too.

Suddenly the elevator door dings and someone comes out, Doctor Banner. Coulson had given her all the files of the people she was staying with.

"Bruce! Come meet our new guest." Pepper says. She gets out of the chair and gives a very small smile.

"Hi, uh- I'm Kate." She says, trying to stay confident. He holds out his hand and she shakes it.

"Oh yeah, hi. Pepper said you'd be coming." She gives a nod. The elevator dings again. "Oh, and I apologize in advance for anything Tony might, and probably will say." He says. She nods and smiles, sitting back down.

Tony walks out a second later and gives me a strange look.

"Ok…who's the kid and why is she here?" He asked. She chuckles.

"Tony, this is Kate REMEMBER?" She says rolling her eyes. He narrows his eyes, and then clasped his hands together; remembering.

"Oh, yeah. Hey kid." He says walking over and sitting down next to Pepper; she gives a small wave and a smirk.

~0~

After breakfast, I walked up to Natasha. She turns, giving a small smile.

"…uh, hi. Uma I-, I was wondering, if I could use the gym?" I asked, stuttering along the way. She lets out a chuckle.

"Sure, here; I show you where it is." I smile and follow her to the elevator.

We walk out of the elevator and into a very large room. Now this is a gym. I thought. I follow Natasha inside.

"Well, here it is." I was awestruck, looking around at everything. There were punching bags, all sorts of training courses, everything you could possibly think of. We walk over to some training mats. "Alright, show me what ya got." Natasha challenges. I raise an eyebrow.

"Wait-…are you serious?" I asked. She nodded; a slightly mischievous grin on her face. The Black Widow wants to see me fight. I thought, my mind goes blank. What the hell?! She'll kill me! I thought. I sighed. Getting into a fighting stance. She gets into a fighting stance.

Here we go. I thought.

I make the first move, doing a round kick toward her head, realizing my mistake to slow. She goes down, pushing my leg up and I lose my balance. I fall back, landing on my back. She throws a fist at me and I roll to the right, and then jump back up. I twirl around seeing she turned. I block a punch and put my arm up, blocking my face as she sends a kick toward my face.

I feel her kick my feet out from under me as I hit the floor with a thud. I stare up at her for a spilt second before grinning and rolling to the left, I run at the wall, hearing her steps close behind me.

I jump forward putting my left foot on the wall then push off with my right foot, I back flip over her and land behind her. I stick the landing and put my fists up, ready to fight. She turns; a shocked look on her face. I let my guard down for a split second and she grins. Using her left foot to push my right foot out, she uses her arms and flips me over. I land on the ground with a thud and I groan. I stare up at her. She was grinning.

"You're pretty good." She says. I roll my eyes.

"That was nothing compared to what you can do." She slowly shakes her head with a small smile. She holds out a hand and helps me up.

"That move you did on the wall…where did you learn how to do that?" She asked. I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh that? My instructor taught me." I say. Did I seriously know a move that the Black Widow didn't know?! I thought. She nods.

"I can't believe I am saying this." She says more to herself. "I have never learned that." She says. I let out a breath.

"Whoa." I whisper. She laughs.

"Here, how bout this. You show me that move, and I'll train with you." I stop and my mouth drops. Is she freaking serious!? I don't know what to say.

"I-I, u-uh…"I stutter. She chuckles. "T-Thank you…!?" I say excitedly. She smiles.

"Don't mention it." We started walking for the exit of the gym. Clint was leaning against the wall.

"Good job Kate," Clint says. I give a shy smile before looking down.

"Thank you," I say quietly before looking to the door. My eyes go back to Natasha and I smile. "Thanks again,"

"No problem," She gave me a surprisingly warm smile as I walk for the stairwell door.

...

Clint waits until he knows Kate's out of hearing range before he turns to Natasha.

"What was all that about?" He smirks. She looks to him with no clear emotion on her face.

"What was what about," She asks in a more so professional tone.

"You know how to do that move easy, why would you tell her you didn't" Clint asks as he raises an eyebrow. She eyes him briefly before crossing her arms.

"Our orders are to figure out her ability, we need to get her to open up" Natasha states firmly. Clint looks at her before laughing.

"That's cold," He states as he looks down and then back at her.

"Don't start getting all soft on me," She says before walking towards the elevator.

"I'm not! I'd worry about Steve getting soft if I were you," He mumbles as he follows her. Natasha shrugs and agreement. She pushes the floor number before the door closed with both of them inside.

"He'll definitely be getting attached," She states. Clint looks at her before looking down. 

"You should at least try to actually be friends with her," Clint says a bit more seriously. "If everyone tries to play her like that, it could really hurt her in the long run" 

"I know, but the difference is I can do it without getting caught" She says and looks at him. He just smirks and shakes his head. "And yes, I'll be nice to her" Natasha adds. "She does have some skill for someone her age, but we need to figure out her ability. The longer she stays the longer you all are going to get attached,"

"Everyone but you?" He says and smirks at her again. She sends him a playfully warning look. "I'm gonna go actually bond with her, so I'll leave you to your I'm-the-Black Widow-and-I-don't-have-any-friends attitude," He says as the door opens. Natasha walks out and he stays in.

"It's our orders Clint, stop being a jackass," She snaps but smiles as he sticks his tongue out at her before the door closes again. 

~0~

After taking a walk in the park with Pepper, and going shopping I walk into my room and sit at my desk. I pull out my journal. Pepper got me a journal to write in, she said and I quote, "It could help you express your feelings!" I had chuckled; Pepper was a really nice person. Sometimes I think too nice. I feel bad that she's giving me all this stuff and I barely even know her! Take about acts of kindness. So, I think what I'm gonna do is log my days here at Stark Tower. I already wrote for Day 1. Now let's get one thing straight, I'm not gonna be writing about my crush and my worst ay ever and all that crap. Whatever you think, it is not a dairy!

I pick out my favorite blue pen and begin to write.

-  
Day 2  
Today was pretty interesting. I met Tony Stark and Bruce Banner! Tony was just as I expected, a big kid. And Dr. Banner was smart-looking…- if you know what I mean…. Anyway, I got a wonderful breakfast and got to eat with everyone. Then I got to go shopping with Pepper! I got some really cool stuff and we got to take a walk in the park as well, my first time as a matter a fact. After that, Natasha showed me the gym. Oh. My. God. I was awesome. Everything you can think of was there. And even better, I got to fight with her! Not to mention I knew a move she didn't know! *sigh* and you wouldn't believe what she told me next. She wants me to show her the move I learned AND she wasn't to train with me! Oh my god, this day couldn't get better!   
-

I am taken out of my thoughts when someone knocks on the door, I turn and walk over. I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear as I open it. I see Clint standing there. He had a mischievous grin. Oh boy. I thought.

"Hey, I need your help." He says, looking up and down the hallway like someone was coming. I raise an eyebrow.

"What would I be helping you with exactly?" I say. He smirks, and then pulls a roll of toilet paper out from behind his back. I chuckle slightly and shrug a nod before follow him down the hallway.

~0~

Tony and Bruce walk into the lab, the lights were off. Then they turn on and they both stop. All they could see was toilet paper! Everything was covered. The suits, the counters, even Dum-E was rapped from base to top in paper. Bruce huffed. Tony looked around.

"Alright feathers, get your ass out here, now!" Tony says. Bruce chuckles; he could tell Tony thought it was a well-played prank.

…

Me and Clint were on the communal floor, quietly laughing while watching the cameras in the lab on Clint's SHIELD laptop. Pepper peeks over the couch; seeing what we were doing. We turn and immediately close the laptop. She raises an eyebrow.

"What are you two up to?" She says. I giggle.

"Nothing." Clint goes into a thinking position.

"What answer do you want?" Clint says. Pepper gives us a look before turning, hearing the elevator door open. It was Tony! He glares in our direction.

"There you are bird brain! You are so in for it…" He says. Clint pushes me off the couch and we take off toward the stairs. Pepper chuckles. Tony watches us go. "She's in on it!?" He asked in a whiny tone. Pepper nodded, smiling. "Traitor!" He whispers.

~0~

After ensuring our safety from Tony's wrath, I went back upstairs to my room. I wrote what happened with the prank in my journal and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I come out a few minutes later, wearing a tank and some shorts. I crawl into bed and smile; staring at the ceiling. Best. Day. Ever. I thought. I adjust myself and close my eyes; drifting off to sleep.

~0~

THE NEXT DAY...

Coulson walks onto the bridge and up to Director Fury.

"Agent Coulson." Fury greets.

"Sir." Coulson says; putting his hands behind his back.

"How far have you gotten on the girl?" He asked.

"Well, she's more confident now. But we still haven't figured out her ability." Coulson said.

"We need to hurry this up; we have other oppressing matters without this kid being a potential threat." Fury makes clear. Coulson just gives a small nod.

"What do you suggest?" Coulson asked.

"We need to gain her trust. If she's not gonna make a move, then we need to make ours. If she was one of the last people alive there and the most heavily guarded, them that means she might have more power than we realize."

"Will do sir." Coulson replied; looking at the ground before looking back up at him.

"Dismissed." Fury ended the conversation and Coulson gave another nod before walking out the door.

~0~

A COUPLE MINUTES LATER….

Steve was jogging when his phone beeps. He stops and pulls it out.

"Coulson?" He begins; his breathing heavy.

"Rogers, I have orders from Director Fury." He says. "We need to speed the process up. We need to find out if this kid has some kind of ability." He says.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" He asked.

"Gain her trust. We need intel from her and Fury's growing inpatient." Steve stands there for a minute.

"So once we have the Intel; we'll just dump her on the streets to fend for herself" He sums up. Coulson huffs on the other end of the phone.

"Stop making a big deal out of this Rogers, she'll be put into foster care. And I already informed Romanoff and Barton. Get it done." Steve clenched his jaw in annoyance before he hangs up. Steve puts his phone away before he continued his jog.

~0~

Steve walked onto the communal floor; Pepper was sitting on the couch watching the news, still in business clothes.

Natasha and Clint were sitting at the bar stools and Tony was tinkering with something at the bar as well. He walks over the Natasha and Clint.

"Hey, get Fury's orders?" Clint asked. He nodded.

"Yeah." He sits down.

"Boy, you sound pissed." Clint states with a smirk. He shrugs.

"Never really been a fan of using orphaned kids to get information" Steve replies firmly.

"As much as I like her, we have to follow orders." Natasha makes clear.

"Did Coulson say where there sending her after?" Clint asked.

"Foster care." Steve says.

"We'll shoot. That'll be a nightmare, I should know." He says taking a sip of his beer.

"So nothin on the ability yet." Tony speaks up.

"Nope." Clint says popping the p.

"What do you think it is?" He asked, turning something; it makes a noise as he continues.

"Don't know." Steve says. Pepper walks over.

"What're you all talking about?" She asked.

"Putting Kate in Foster Care, and what her ability is." Clint says. Pepper's smile goes to a confused face.

"So after they find out her ability... they're sending her to a foster home?" Pepper said. They nod.

"Fury's orders" Natasha says. Just then the elevator door beeps and Kate walks out. Everyone turns around and looks at her. She gives a nervous smile she sees everyone looking at her.

"Did I miss something?" She says slowly.

"Nah, kid. Just talking about stuff." Clint says. She grins.

"Oh yeah? What kinda stuff." She says; walking in and sitting on one of the stools.

The adults look at each other. Her smile goes away. Pepper turns to her and smiles.

"Don't worry about it, here give me a hand with dinner?" She says, putting a gentle hand on her back, they walk toward the kitchen.

Steve, Natasha, and Clint exchange a glance; looking a bit guilty before Steve stood up and left the room in a mood. Natasha and Clint went back to talking about their mission; occasionally sipping their drinks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you all like it? Hope you did! Leave a comment if you want or.... Kudos? Is that how you spell it? Sorry I'll get the hang of this soon! X'D  
> And I don't really get why I cant bold, italicize, or underline anything. Is there some weird trick to that? Is it the rich text thing that allows it? Idk- little help would be awesome if anyone knows :)


	3. 10-Mile Runs and Archery Tips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 comin your way!

I had been at the tower for almost two weeks now. I've really gotten to know everyone! I help Bruce in the lab sometimes and watch Tony test his suits when they're not blowing up. I've been sparring with Natasha a lot too and sometimes with Clint if she's on missions. I can't believe how much we actually have in common. At first she seemed very intimidating; but once you really get to know her, she's awesome!

I pulled on my sneakers and walked toward the elevator. I had started jogging in the mornings; it really helps to clear my head. No one knows about me going out to run in the morning and I want to keep it that way. If they start to worry than it will become a lot harder to get out.

I was wearing some shorts and a tank top; my brown hair tied in a ponytail. I wait for the door to open and walk out into the lobby. The sun was barely up yet and even then, it was loud and noisy. As usual. I thought.

I walked a few blocks before getting to the park and starting my routine.

~0~

Pepper was up early to get ready for work. She met Natasha and Clint on the communal floor. Natasha was sipping her coffee while Clint was reading something on his phone.

"Morning." Natasha says as Pepper entered. She smiles.

"Good morning." She says; walking over to the coffee pot at a fast pace. She grabs a coffee mug and gets her purse. "I'll be back around 6 tonight, ok?" She says. They nod and she walks out the door.

~0~

An hour later…

I jogged around a few trees and slowed down by a bench. Sitting down; I pull out my water bottle that I hadn't opened yet. I take the cap off and take a small sip. Looking around as I drink it, I see a few people walking around or jogging. I take a moment to look at my surroundings, despite the smelly city, the park wasn't half bad.

I still couldn't believe that I was living with the avengers. I must be the luckiest kid alive. I thought. Then thoughts of my parents and brother came back to me. I quickly take my mind off it and then throw away my empty water bottle and get up; turning in time to jump out of the way of someone running by.

"Oh! - Sorry, ma'am I didn't se-"I turn and see Steve. His eyebrows shot up. "K-Kate!?" He said. My eyes widened.

"Steve!? Wait- what-!?"

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, cutting me off slightly. I blink several times before getting my voice.

"Uh-r-running, or-Jogging! - …jogging." I stutter like an idiot. "Sorry I didn't, uh-....Well," I swallow and stop saying anything for a moment. "...You?" He swallows, and blinks.

"Same, uh, how long have you been out here?" I shrug.

"I don't know, maybe an hour or so…" I scratch the back of my head.

"Does anyone know you're out here?" He asks with a bit of concern in his voice. I stop, and swallow. He raised an eyebrow.

"Funny, you should ask…" I laugh. "I uh…well; I've been going out in the morning for the last week or so, I haven't told anyone." I said. He hesitated before nodding. I furrow my eyebrows. "…You're not mad…?" I ask slowly, waiting for him to snap or something. He smirks.

"No, you want me to be?"

"Well no." I laughed. There was a moment of silence.

"How much longer are you gonna be out here?" He asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know, I guess maybe another hour or so." He nods.

"Well… I guess I'll see you back at the tower?" He starts backing up. I nod. "Alright, just-.... Try to be careful," Steve says somewhat casually but I could still hear the concern in his voice. I nod and look around a bit. He smiles then turns and continues his run. I turn the other way I start jogging again. Then a slowdown and stop; taking a moment to think I turn back around and run after him.

I run up beside him and he smirks.

"Might as well have someone to talk to." I said. He nods.

"So, how far do you usually go?" He asked.

"Usually a few miles, like 3 or so. Not too much." I say, looking ahead. "What about you?" He shrugged.

"Around ten or so." I whip my head around in his direction.

"Ten! Like 1-0, ten!?" He laughs.

"Yeah, every morning." I sigh.

"What mile are you on?" I ask in a groaning tone. He grins.

"... Four." I groan louder in a playful manner as we keep running.

~0~

I was experiencing a new level of pain after the run with Steve, oh my god. I groaned around the tower this morning with every step. Clint couldn't stop laughing at me and Natasha felt bad for me for completing the run and let me have the day off from our little training session. I was relieved.

I watched a few movies and had a can of soda, along with a small bag of chips and nacho cheese dip. Clint walks in and sits down next to me. Looking at the TV for a few minutes before speaking up.

"Hey, I guess you're not up for sparring right?" He asked. I laughed.

"Not really, unless you have something that doesn't involve me moving my legs." He grins and raises an eyebrow. I glance at him.

"What are you planning…?" I asked slowly. He smirks.

"Nothing really…" He says, putting his hands behind his head; leaning back. I sit for a moment, looking at the TV.

"Ok, spill." I say turning back to him. He grins.

"Follow me." We get up and I follow him to the elevator.

~0~

We walk into the gym and up to an empty area. He pushes a few buttons on wall panel and a case rises from the floor, three different bows were there. I raise an eyebrow. He gives a mischievous grin. He walks over to it and I follow.

"Pick your weapon of choice." He says, gesturing to the case. I look at all of them. There was recurve, a compound, and a double recurve.

"I'll take the compound." I say. He raised an eyebrow and handed it to me. He pushes a few other buttons on the wall and three different targets came up. I look to him and he gives me an arrow. He walks up behind me.

"Ok, so first you-"He was putting his hands up to help me when I lifted the bow and drew back; I let out a breath and released, hitting the third ring.

His hands were frozen midair as he stared at the target. Then he dropped his hands and stared at me, eyebrows raised. A small smile appears on my face.

"What? I took archery when I was little." I say. He smirks.

"Might wanna mention that next time!" He says playfully. I laughed.

"Give me something new then!" I say competitively. He grins and walks back over to the wall; pushing a different button. The targets go back into the floor. A moment later the ground started shifting.

Soon small, fake buildings loomed in front of me. The windows were open and hologram figures were in them, shooting hologram-like guns and switching windows; running back and forth.

I stare at him in shock. He leans against the wall; crossing his arm. He grins.

"You said you wanted new." He says playfully. I glared at him, then smile. Once turned back I gulp and raise the bow.

~0~

After my mistake of wanting Clint's version of new practicing toys, he showed me archery tips. How to better hold the bow, what to aim for, blah, blah, blah, etc. I was in my room now and after logging my day so far I started thinking about my best friend. Her name is Samantha Powell. Of course I call her Sam though. We had been best friend's sense third grade. I haven't heard from her sense and I presume she's dead along with my family.

I hear a knock on my door and I get up to answer it. Natasha walks in before I get there.

"Hey, what ya doin?" She says, walking in and sitting crisscross on my bed. I shrug. She raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?" I smile and shake my head.

"Na, nothing really. Just thinking about a friend." I say. She nods.

"What's her name?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You really feel like hearing this?" I say flatly. She nods. "Ok, her name is Samantha Powell. She's a year older than me." She nods.

"Where is she now?" I shrugged.

"Don't know, probably dead." I say, my voice saddened. Natasha puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, you can't afford to think like that." She makes clear.

"Just saying, all of my close family is dead, and she was one of the closest people I know." She stares at the floor for a minute before getting up, a slightly excited look on her face.

"I'll be right back." She says. I raise an eyebrow but nod, watching her leave.

~0~

I was now sitting on the couch on the communal floor or the tower. It had been a few hours sense Natasha disappeared from my room and I kinda wondered what she was up to. There was a sudden ding and the elevator door opens. I half expected it to be Natasha but it was Pepper. Had a full day gone by already? I thought. I look at the clock on the wall. It was 6:15. I smile at Pepper.

"Hey Kate." She says, sounding tired. I get up and follow her to the counter.

"Long day?" I assumed. She sighed and nodded.

"Like you wouldn't believe." She says. I chuckle. Then, Pepper's phone beeps, and a text message appears on the screen. She reads it, smiling. "Natasha wants you to go wait by the elevator," I give her a confused look, but do as I'm told.

I walk over and wait. The elevator door dings and it opens. I gasp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ok? Quick note- this story gets so much better the farther you get along, just bare with me please XD If any of the other readers from fanfiction have noticed this story up on this site, please feel free to let me know or something :)  
> Also; I'm not one of those people that demands comments to update. I only encourage you to leave a little something like a request, suggestion, and if you don't have any of this then a couple nice words on how you liked the chapter or something of the sort ;) Don't feel the absolute need to if you don't wanna, it's ok XD


	4. Sam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much neice1176 for the Kudos! :D Hope you don't mind the shout out,  
> I also hope anyone reading this enjoys the next chapter!

I gasp. It was Sam! She looked shocked, as she smiled ear to ear.

"Kate!" She yelled. I blinked; mouth dropped a big smile on my face.

"Sam?!" She squeals and pulls me into a hug. "B-But. I….Wha-, how?" I couldn't find my words til I look past, seeing Natasha smiling, still standing in the elevator.

"Ms. Rushmen told me about you and that you were ok!" We pull out of the hug and I raised an eyebrow, but then receive a look from Natasha. That must be her undercover name. I thought. Cool! I look back to her.

"I-... I can't believe you're still alive." I exclaim; looking her over. She gives me a confused look and a nervous laugh.

"What do you mean by that?" She laughs a little, slightly confused. My smile fades and I look to Natasha. She comes out of the elevator, giving a nod and then walks over to Pepper. I turn back, giving a reassuring smile.

"Here, follow me." She smiles and nods. Following me into the elevator as we climb to my room, I take a deep breath.

~0~

Sam looked close to tears. I told her about my parents, we were now standing in my room.

"Kate…I am so sorry." She pulls me into a gentle hug. I nod, resting my head on her shoulder. "I wish I knew, but after I moved. I didn't speak to your parents mu-"

"Wait, you moved?" I ask, pulling out of her hug. She nodded.

"Yeah, we live a few blocks away from here." She says; a small smile appears on her face. I brighten up.

"Really!? That's amazing!" I say; putting a hand on her shoulder. She nods.

"It's no Frederick, but it's ok." I smile. We sit in silence for a moment before Sam speaks up again. "So, I have question." She starts. I chuckle, looking at her; an eyebrow raised. "Why are you living in Stark Tower?" She laughs. I laugh too.

"Long story. A very, very long one." I admit. She shrugs, sitting crisscross on my bed.

"I got time." She grins. I open my mouth to begin and stop. Can I just start talking about the Avengers with her? I mean, I could accidentally give away classified info or what if she shouldn't be here in the first place? I got lost in thought. Sam snaps her fingers in front of my face and I blink out of my thoughts. "So…?" I stare at her.

"I'll be right back." I run to the elevator and push the button several times. It finally opens and I run in. As the door slowly closes I peek out to see if she was following than bring my head back in as it closes.

~0~

I run up to Clint and Natasha after I emerge from the elevator.

"What can I tell her?" I start. Clint raised an eyebrow. Natasha hesitates.

"Well, what is she asking about?" She says in a calm voice. I let out a breath.

"Everything." Clint chuckles and Natasha's assuring face went blank. She thinks for a minute.

"Can I get back to you on that?" She says sweetly. I nod and she drags Clint into the kitchen. I go over to the couch and sit down. I hear bits and pieces of their conversation.

A few minutes later Pepper comes over. I look up and smile.

"So, on a scale of 1-10, how long have you known Sam?" She asked. I smirk.

"11" She gives a little chuckle.

"So, you trust her with your life." She says. I give a nod, and then laugh.

"Let's hope it doesn't come down to that though." I say with a face. Pepper smiles; putting a hand on my shoulder before returning to the sitting area. Natasha walks over, along with Clint.

"Alright." She starts. I sit up straighter, waiting for a reply. "We'll go ask everyone if there ok with her knowing about them, and if everyone's in agreement…then you can tell her everything." Natasha says; a hint of sternness in her voice. I smile and nod.

I get up and run to the elevator.

~0~

A while later, Natasha had gotten everyone's approval. Now Sam and I were getting into the elevator, on our way to the communal floor.

We walk out once the door opens. I glance at Sam who was looking around at everyone. Surprisingly, everyone was here.

Clint was watching a new show airing on TV, Natasha was sending a mission report to that guy Director Fury, Tony was tinkering with the glove of his suit while making small talk with Bruce, Pepper was on the phone with someone from work, and Steve was reading a book, and having an occasional word with Clint.

Pepper looks up and smiles. So does everyone else. They all look at each other; Pepper puts her phone away and walks over.

"So, Sam." She begins. Sam makes a face, and then smiles. I chuckle. "We understand you want some answers?" She says a slight laugh in her voice. Sam glances at the people behind Pepper, than me. I smirk.

"...yeah..." She says slowly. Pepper chucked.

"Ok, well why don't you come meet everyone." Pepper leads her over to the sitting area. Natasha and Clint look up first, and then Steve does. "This is Natasha Romanoff. And-" Sam holds up her hands.

"Wait, you told me your name was Natalie Rushmen!" Sam says, feeling betrayed but smiling. Natasha just gives a small smile.

"And this is Clint Barton." She says. Clint smiles and holds out his fist. She shrugs and fist bumps him, grinning. I smile, I'm glad they're warming up to her, sort a. I chuckle to myself. "This is Steve Rogers." Pepper says; turning Sam around by the shoulders. Steve had stood up and held out a hand.

"Ma'am." Sam smiles, shaking his hand. I look over at her seeing her looking up at him with a bit of a nervous smile and I cover my mouth to hide my laugh. "Tony!" Pepper yells to get his attention. He looks up, and so does Bruce. Bruce comes over first. "Sam, this is Bruce Banner." She introduces. Sam smiles and shakes his hand.

"Pleasure." Bruce gives a small smile. Tony waves in her direction.

"Hi." And that was all he said. Pepper and I sigh.

"That's as close as he'll get to a proper introduction." Pepper says, and Sam laughed slightly. She then looks around.

"Yeah, and that's everyone." Pepper declares. I smile. Sam nods, looking at everyone, who was looking back at them. Sam looked at everyone for a second, turning and glancing at all the faces. He mouth was open like she wanted to say something. I knew she was catching on that I was kinda living with the Avengers. She continues to look and then her eyes widen.

"Y-your t-the..." She tries to get out. I grinned.

"The Avengers? Yeah. That's us." Tony says plainly, not taking his eyes off his glove. Sam gulped, and then a big smile appeared on her face. She ran toward me and grabbed my arm. I yelp as she starts pulling toward the elevator. We get in and it starts closing.

"Be back in a moment!" She says before it closes.

...

Everyone looks at each other.

"What was that all about?" Clint spoke up. Everyone shrugged.

…

The door closes and I look at Sam.

"YOU'RE LIVING WITH THE AVENGERS!" She screams; jumping up and down. I laugh, and nod.

"Yeah, Sam. I'm living with the Avengers." I repeat putting my hands on her shoulders to contain her jumping. She started waving her hands really fast and I chuckle. She starts taking deep breaths, she had a huge grin on her face and I couldn't start smiling. The door opens and we go to my room; opening the door, I close it behind us.

"Ok-" she walks over to my bed and sits down. I walk over, sitting next to her. "Just start from the beginning." She says. I nod; letting out a breath.

"Well...the day that SHIELD found me, they were on a mission; trying to take down the people that took me and several others, for-...a certain reason you don't need to know and I never really understood." She nods. "Yeah, so...uh, they were trying to find all of the hostages-including me- and Steve found me first..." I see her smile. She shoulders me.

"That must of made your day am I right?" She says nudging me. I look at her and laugh.

"I'm still trying to get over the fact that when he said hi you were looking at him like he was about to pummel you or something!" I laugh. She shrugged. "Also, I didn't even recognize him at the time they all found me." I say. 

"Ok, first of. His arms are like the size of my head!" She blurts out and I laugh. "And how the hell did you not recognize Captain freaking America?"

"I was being held against me will for 8 months, I wasn't playing the guess who game, Sam." I laugh. She gave another laugh before shrugging an agreement.

"So what happened next?" I think for a moment.

"Well, after I decided on going with them, I went to the Helicarrier thing, - or what her it's called. And-"

"Wait, wait-. Wait. When you decided-? On going with them? Why wouldn't you?" She says.

"No, you don't get it. I didn't know who they were. Even if they were nice to me at the time I didn't know who to really trust. I couldn't be sure they would treat me like they did." I say. She hesitates before nodding.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that." She pulled me into a hug. I give a small smile.

"Well, at least there gonna let me stay here in the meantime." I say. She nods, after pulled out of the hug, them she raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by mean time?" I sighed.

"I'm not living here forever Sam. I know there just keeping me here til I tell them more about why I was taken." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"... Well that sucks." She says. I shrug. She smiles and puts a hand on my shoulder. "At least you have them til that time comes." I smile.

~0~

After Sam went home, I went back to the communal floor. As I entered, I saw everyone looking in my direction.

I slow down. They didn't look mad, but not happy either.

"Ok, what did I do wrong? - Was I being too pushy about Sam? - or was it-"

"We're not mad Kate; we just need to talk to you about something." Steve says. I nod, walking over and siting on the couch. I look around, turns out, Tony and Bruce weren't here.

"So, I heard you talking to Sam." Natasha spoke up. I stop, my breath caught in my throat.

"What did you hear?" I ask, slightly mad, but didn't show it to much in my voice. They all look at each other.

"About you only being hear for a certain reason." Natasha says. I gave a nod.

"Kate we're not going to lie to you, but your right." Steve says. "We thought that if you spent some time with people you could trust than it would be easier for you to get back out there." He says. I nodded again. I knew I would be here for a reason but not like this. I thought.

"I know that's not it." I look at him. He furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm not stupid. I know you all are trying to figure out my ability." I say. All of their eyebrows shot up.

I look at them; they looked defeated on that one. Natasha looked clueless for a change on what to say, Clint had his mouth open as to say 'ooh…busted!' And Steve looked clueless on what to say as well, Pepper was avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"I uh, I don't know what to say." Steve admits. I keep my eyes on him, and then look at the floor.

"You know if you had just asked me from the beginning I might have told you. But since it was done this way, how do I know you're not just trying to buy my friendship so you can report to Fury about my progress and if you can get rid of me yet?!" I say in a serious tone.

"Kate, it's nothing like that." Natasha says in a gentle voice. I shake my head.

"You might as well kick me out onto the streets now instead of later because I'm not telling you my ability." I get up and walk to the elevator. It opens and I go down to the lobby. Picking up speed I run out the door and away from the tower.

...

They all sat on the couch stunned. Steve got up first and was about to walk toward the elevator when Natasha stopped him.

"Just give her some time. If she doesn't come back then we'll go look for her." He thinks about it before giving a nod and sitting back down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!! Comment or leave kudos if you want :)


	5. Back To Sqaure One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit different from current happier chapters, hope you enjoy! Again, this story will get better with time. Please give it a chance- but don't force yourself XD Please don't do that if you find this that painful to read!   
> Anyway, here's your chapter

I knew I couldn't trust them, they don't really care. They just wanted to figure me out. If I let them tell Fury about my ability, than they could do whatever they wanted with me. They could experiment on me, dump me in a lab. Or just send me off the foster care, they didn't really care; they just needed to know if I was a threat or not.

I run down the streets, I needed to get as far away as possible. I run across the street, cars honk at me but I ignore it. Running through a crowd I pass a few stores.

...

It was dark, probably like 11pm. I had been running for an hour straight. I ran in front of a taxi, it stops and honks.

...

Sam looks up as the taxi puts on the breaks. Someone ran in from of it that she recognized. Kate! She thought. She threw the money up front and got out.

...

"Kate!" I hear my name and stop. I turn and see Sam running toward me. I sigh, and then smile. She looked worried. "What the hell are you doing out here?" She says. I was breathing hard.

"I-I can't live with them." I say between breaths. I rubbed my chest from the cold; arms crossed. She looked shocked.

"Why not? I thought you loved living with them?"

"I thought I did, but it was all a set up. They were just trying to get through to me to get information about my kidnapping. It was all a lie." I say, my face was red. I felt like I was going to snap.

Pity was in Sam's eyes; she looks at me and sees me shivering.

"Oh!- God, your freezing." She starts taking off her jacket, under it a hoodie. She puts it around my shoulders. My teeth chatter and we get onto the side walk. "Here, why don't I buy you something to eat?" I shiver and nod, now realizing how cold it was out. I took out my phone and saw the temperature was 30 degrees F! We start walking down the street.

~0~

NO POV...

Kate and Sam were walking around the city, after getting shwarma.

"God, Kate. I can't believe we were living so close for weeks and didn't see each other." Sam says. I shrug.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy." Kate says. They walk in silence for a few minutes.

"So, are you sure you're ok?" Sam asked. Kate smiled.

"Yeah, I let my guard down too quickly. If I hadn't, it wouldn't have been a big deal" She admits. Sam shrugs.

"It's just...I can't imagine how hard those 8 months must of been." Sam says. "Trying to hold on not knowing if you'd ever get out." She says. Kate nods.

"Well, you can thank SHIELD for that I guess," She mumbled. Sam looks at her friend as they walk before clearing her throat. "Mind if I live with you guys for a couple days until I figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do?" Kate asks wearily. Sam laughs at her question.

"Kate, I think you might wanna give them a second chance. They might actually care about you,"

"I highly doubt tha-" Kate slows down. Sam looks at her.

"What?" She looks ahead and sees what she's looking at.

Three big dogs were staring them down, about 50 yards ahead.

Sam takes a step back.

"Run. Now." Kate says. The dog's lip's rise up into a snarl and growl as they start to walk toward them. "Run!" Kate says, pushing her friend ahead. They take off as the dogs gain on them.

This can't be happening! Kate thought.   
After everything I survived, I was gonna die by some dogs? 

She looks behind her and sees them about 20 feet away and gaining. Sam keeps running straight when Kate runs down an ally. 

I can't believe I'm about to do this. Kate thought. 

Sam looks behind her and stops.

"Kate!?" She yells. Suddenly a huge black wolf leaps out of the ally in front of the dogs. It's lips raise into a snarl as it stares them down. The dogs bark and growl; standing their ground. Sam puts her hands on her head as she watches in utter shock. The wolf growls and barks at them. One dog runs at the wolf, and then the other two follow. One of the dogs tried to bite the wolf's neck. The wolf dodges it and sinks it teeth in the dog's leg, it whines and suddenly the two other dogs advance.

One bites down on the wolf's upper front leg and the wolf whines in pain. The wolf snarls and gets the dog off it and stares don't the two dogs still there. Sam pulled out her phone and dialed a number. The brown dog leaps at the wolf wrestling out to the ground and the other one runs toward Sam. Sam goes wide eyed; she closes her phone and starts running.

The wolf looks over seeing the dog running after her. It bites down on the one dogs paw, sinking its teeth in before shaking him off and taking off toward the Rottweiler chasing Sam.

Sam runs with the strength she has left. She looks back for the dog when she doesn't see the uneven side walk and trips, she turns over and just as the dog reaches her the wolf barks and jumps on him and wrestles him to the ground growling and snarling. Sam watches in horror as the wolf pins him down, growling as to say make a move and I kill you.

Suddenly the brown dog bites down on the same fore leg, pulling it off the dog. The wolf whines and can't get loose. The dog shakes its head violently, tearing off some flesh. Sam looks for something to help. She sees a metal pole next to an ally way. She gets up and runs over; picking it up. She runs at the dog and

Wham!

She nails it right in the side and it whines and takes off with the other two wounded dogs. The wolf was still lying on the ground and blood was seeping over the pavement. Sam ran to its side.

"Kate?!" She says. The wolf was breathing heavy and froze at Sam's words, and looks up at her with big eyes. Suddenly, the wolf form changes and it turns into Kate.

"God damn it!" Kate yells, holding her arm where the jacket was ripped to shreds and quickly filling with blood. Sam looked really worried. "How did- you know-?" Kate asked.

"About your ability?" She asked in a gentle voice. Kate nods. Sam then shakes her head. "Not the time for it, we need to get Bruce." She helps her friend up.

"N-no. I...want a hos...pital." She makes out between breaths.

"It's too far, Stark Tower's just around the corner." She helps Kate toward the tower.

~0~

It was the first time I used my ability in so long. I can't believe Sam knew! Kate thought.

The elevator dings and Sam was half dragging Kate onto the communal floor. Everyone was surprisingly there. They look up and looks of horror cross their faces.

"Oh my god! What happened!?" Pepper says running up to them. Steve gets there first and helps Sam get a half conscious Kate down stairs to the lab.

"W-we were attacked by dogs, Kate was trying to protect me when one almost ripped her arm off." Sam says; she looked close to tears. We get into the lab; Bruce was there he looked up shocked.

"What happened?!" He asks.

"Dog attack, she's bleeding out." Steve says. They place her on a table and Bruce comes over.

He pushes up the sleeve revealing a bloody mess. It was a mostly clean cut. There were four long gashes down her arm from the teeth, but also some flesh missing from her arm too.

"We need to stop the bleeding." Bruce says, getting a first aid bin from under the table. He pulls out disinfectant chemicals and puts them on the raps.

He presses them on her arm. He eyes shoot open and she hissed.

"God damn it, Banner!" She says. "Be careful, I'm not made of steel ya know!" Clint smirks.

"Even after getting mauled by a dog you still got a sense of humor." He says. Kate lets out a painful chuckle, biting her tongue for the pain.

~0~

A few hours later...

It was about 2am and Bruce was finishing up. After cleaning out the wound, Bruce starts rapping my arm in bandages. He pulls it tight and I winced.

"Sorry, but no one ever said recovery was painless." Bruce chuckles. I roll my eyes.

"It hurts more than it did before." I complain, sounding pissed off.

"That's because you were falling in and out of consciousness." Bruce says with a smirk.

He tightens it a bit more before letting go.

"Well, you're all set." He said.

"Thank you." I say, he gives a nod and I head for the elevator.

~0~

Meanwhile...

"And you're sure she didn't do anything unusual?" Natasha asked. Sam shook her head.

"No, she hit one dog with a metal rod she found in an ally...but it all happened so fast... I don't remember anything out of the ordinary." Sam says, remembering the moment. "Why?" Steve, Clint and Natasha glance at each other.

"No reason, we just wanna make sure she's alright." Steve says.

"Of course I'm alright." Kate says, no one hearing her entering. She sits on one of the stools. "Why wouldn't I be?" She says giving them a look when Sam's not looking. "Hey, Sam." Kate gets her attention.

"Yeah?"

"I wanna talk to you about something." They get up and head toward Kate's room.

~0~

Once they enter her room, Kate turns and closes the door. "Alright, start talkin." Kate says. Sam gives her a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

"How did you know about my ability?" Kate says in a quieter voice. Sam sighs.

"Your parents told me everything." Kate's eyes widen.

"And you didn't think I should know that?!" She raises her voice.

"I was protecting you!" Sam says.

"What?-...How?" She asked.

"Think of it this way. If I hadn't known, how would you have ended up last night? Would you change back anyway? Either way, I would have found out and I could have told them about you back there but I didn't." She says. Kate understood now.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know they were asking questions." Kate says, she walks over and hugs her.

"It's fine." Sam rolls her eyes. "What are friends for, am I right?" She grins.

~0~

"I think she knows more than she's telling." Clint says.

"Yeah." Natasha says. "Something when down last night, we need to find out what it was. We know Kate won't say anything, so we need to find another way to clear this up." She makes clear.

"We could check security cameras on the street. Maybe we'll see something." Clint offers. They all nod.

"But what if she's telling the truth?" Steve says. "Kate hasn't told any of us yet what her ability is. And if she thinks no one should know about it and its worth getting mauled by a dog over- if Sam's telling the truth- then we need to try something else." He says.

"Like what?" Clint demands. "What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know." He says back. "I think what I'm trying to say is, maybe she's keeping this from us for a reason."

~0~

After Sam went home after dinner that day, I started drawing another wolf in my sketch book. After this kinda thing happens I always love drawing. It clears my head. I do a layout of the body before I start with the details.

I can't run away from this. Might as well just wait til they throw me out.

...

After finishing my picture I get changed. I come out of the bathroom in a tank and some sweatpants. The sun was going down and I feel like crap. I crawl into bed and turn the light off.

~0~

The dogs jumped at me with teeth covered in blood. I felt my flesh being ripped from my bones as they started to kill me. There growling and barking filled me ears.

...

I shoot up out of my bed. A cold sweat was drenching me and my heart was beating extremely fast. I look around for the dogs.

"Are you ok Ms. Sanders? Do you require assistance?" Jarvis says.

"N-no Jarvis, I'm fine." I take a deep breath and let it out. I look at the time. It was 2:43. Sighing I get back under the covers and drift back off to sleep.

~0~

It had been a few days sense the incident, and I couldn't sleep. Nightmares of that night haunted me. I couldn't get them out of my head. I forgot how much my ability took a toll on my body. I was weak for days after. Not to mention my arm, but it was getting better.

I get up out of bed and look at the clock, I just had another nightmare again. It was 4:45am. I groan and get dressed getting ready for my run.

~0~

I jog past a few benches; I wasn't planning on breaking today for a drink. I kept jogging, I wasn't getting tied yet so I went a bit faster. Someone jogs up beside me and I don't look at them.

"I'm sorry if you took what we said the wrong way." Steve says. I keep looking ahead. I can't out run him obviously so might as well ignore him. "But it wasn't a setup, Kate. You know we do care about you right?" He asked. I keep looking ahead. After a few seconds I just nod, to make him happy. We jog in silence for a few minutes.

"If knowing my ability was so important, than why didn't you just ask?" I say. He doesn't respond. "I probably would have told you. But you all thought you needed to gain my trust first, and once you found out my ability, you would have dumped me in a foster home." I say. He glanced at me, but didn't say anything.

It starts raining and I feel my clothes getting drenched. It started to down pour. Steve slowed down. I kept going.

"Why don't we head back?" He says. I slow down and stop. Starring ahead.

"I'm gonna keep going." I say, I pick my jog back up and he gently grabs my arm. I whip my head around at him.

"Come on. Your gonna catch pneumonia. Let's head back." He says, his voice was firm at first but quickly became more friendly when he saw my hostile reaction. I glare at him for a moment, and then nod. He lets go of my arm and we pick up the jog again. I stayed behind him on the jog back.

~0~

By the time we reached the tower we were drenched. My brown hair was matted against my face, and my clothes were uncomfortably wet.

We walk into the elevator and have a silent ride up. The door opens and I see Pepper sitting at the dining room table, a frustrated look on her face.

She looks up and smiles. I give a brief small smile, then go back to my closed off mode and grab an apple from the counter before going back to the elevator toward my room.

...

Steve sat down across from her. She looked at him; he was drenched.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Started raining." He says, leaning on his fist.

"You know what I mean." She says. He shrugs, taking his hand away from his face and leaning back in his chair.

"She's pissed off... I don't blame her." He says. Pepper sighs.

"Just-, try not talking about it. If she seems like she doesn't want to talk about it then don't bring it up. Give it time." She says. He nods.

"And were back to square one."

~0~

Once in my room I throw the wet clothes in the laundry shoot and got in the shower. I put the water on hot and just stood in it. It burned, but I didn't care.

I can't trust them now, I can't let them get close, and I can't let anything about my ability out.

...

After getting out of the shower and getting dressed in one of my new outfits, I looked at the clock. It was only 7am. I groan and sit down at my desk. I open the draw and see the sketch book. I slam the drawl shut and sit there; staring out the window.

I don't know what to do. Most of my schedule included someone there. Usually Natasha, Steve, and Clint. And those happened to be the only people close to Fury.

I get up and head for the elevator. I was wearing worn jeans with a navy blue tank and a red flannel with navy chucks. I sigh as I walk toward the elevator. This was going to get interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna post the next one soon, I'm thinking right now it makes the most sense to have the first several chapters up so that there is something for readers to grasp. So hope you enjoy the upcoming one!


	6. Skateboarding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay, next chapter!! :D

It had been almost a week sense all that crap about my ability happened. I don't want to think about it, but that's all that I _can_ think about. I had stopped training with Natasha, and I wasn't doing anything prank-like with Clint. I did still run, but I took a different route every day.

I pulled off my running sneakers and put them in my closet. I had just finished my run, and I really felt like training with Natasha. But I can't get close to them. Soon enough I'll be going to a foster home or something anyway. I can just use the punching bag.

I changed into some sweat pants and a t-shirt, before headed to the gym.

…

I walk out of the elevator and onto the gym floor. I walk over to the punching bags and set my water bottle down on one of the benches. I look at a few of them and pick the one in the corner. I walk over and put my hand on it; then I put my head up against it; taking a few deep breaths. _This is so complicated._ I thought. I let my hand fall away after a few seconds; I lift my head up and throw my first punch.

It actually felt pretty good. I threw another and a few more. It stung my knuckles a bit but I ignored it, sense I wasn't wearing gloves or raps or anything it stung even more. I kept throwing punches; putting my angry into each one.

~0~

I was in the gym for a few hours throwing punches, at one point I couldn't feel my hands. But for some reason I hadn't stopped. My knuckles were almost black from bruising; I walked around the tower with fingerless gloves so no one would see it.

I walk out of the elevator and onto the communal floor. I grab an apple from the counter and sit on the couch. I turn on the TV and flip through a few channels. I look at my apple as I take a bite; flipping through the channels; listening for something interesting. I take a bite and hear a familiar line.

I look up and see Star Wars episode I. I smile. I was a huge Star Wars fan. It was at the part where Anakin was about to start the pod race. It was one of my favorite parts in the movie…Despite the little crush I had on him when I was little…

I stare at the TV as I take a bite of my apple. Suddenly, the elevator opens and Pepper walks in with Sam. I look up and smile. Sam walks over and sits down next to me.

"Hey." She says. I just smile.

"Hi." She looks at the TV for a minute.

"Oh hey!" She says. "Star Wars! I haven't seen this is forever." She adjusts herself on the couch and watches with me. I chuckled and continued to watch. After a few moments of silence she turns to me. "So um, how are things? - around here anyway." She asked in a quiet tone. I shrug.

"Quiet, I don't want to get any closer to them, but I can't help it." I tell her. She nods.

"You know, one day. You'll look back on this and think: Why didn't I just make the most of it?" Sam looks at me, with a serious face. I don't respond as I look at the floor.

~0~

A few hours later, Sam and I had gone out to lunch. Clint made both of us carry knives, in case of any K-9 encounters. I had rolled my eyes, but Sam made me take it. We went for Subway, one of my favorite places to eat on crappy days like this.

We had both gotten foot long subs and half a dozen chocolate chips cookies. Like is said before; on crappy days like this we go full out.

After that, we had gone to the park and walked around for a bit. I just stared ahead as Sam gave me lectures on how I should enjoy the time I have with them, and blah, blah, blah… Sam eventually went home and I was now in my room.

I logged my day so far and a thought came to mind. I walk over to my closet and open the double doors; I see my skateboard hiding behind my combat boots from Natasha and Clint. I grin and pick it up; getting the matching, black helmet and run for the elevator.

…

I walk out onto the sidewalk in front of the Tower. I clip my helmet. Before I drop my skateboard I look both ways, in hopes as to not get run over. Dropping it and jumping on, I cruised across the pavement and jumped the curb; onto the sidewalk.

~0~

Coulson scooted past a few agents, walking onto the bridge of the Helicarrier. Fury was growing _really_ impatient with Kate and was about ready to send her to the sandbox. He walks up to Director Fury. He turns; pinning his gaze on him.

"Coulson, have you found _anything_ **yet**?" He asked. Coulson shook his head.

"They're trying their best Sir, but after the incident a week or so ago she's become more closed off. " Coulson explains. Clint and Natasha had called in the incident with the dogs to Fury. Fury huffs, pressing something on the control panels a bit harder than necessary.

"Find it out, or I will." He makes clear. Coulson gives a nod before turning around and walking toward the flight deck to go to Stark Tower.

~0~

**Two hours later…**

It was about 3pm and the sun was going to set soon. I was still skating around the city. I jump off the curb with my board and turn down a darker road. It wasn't too bad; maybe a bit messy and criminal looking. But I wasn't worried too much.

I skated past a few dumpsters and here something. I stop, slowing my board down. I look around; it sounded like a bottle being smashed. How original right? I narrow my eyes and keep going. The road was looking a lot darker now. It looked pretty much deserted.

For some reason I felt like I was being watched, I try to ignore I as I keep going. I could hear what sounded like running and I turn around too late. Someone grabs me from behind; putting an arm around my neck. My skateboard flies out from under me and I try to look around to see who it was. There were other people there too. I heard a car pulling up behind me and my breath started quickening.

"Hurry." I hear a guy's voice.

"He needs her at the Sandbox ASAP." I hear another guy say. _The Sandbox?_ I thought. _What the hell is that?_ I get taken out of my thoughts as I act. I use my right foot and curve it around his foot, pulling forward, causing him to loose balance. I feel the arm loosen and I push it around, pressing back as far as it went. He cried out in pain and I push his arm til I hear a crack. I push the guy over and see three men run at me.

One of them pulls out a gun and I freeze. He grinned as one guy walks up he grabs my arm and I twist it away, and then kick him in the ribs. He winced and comes back. He glares at me and punches me right in the mouth. I fly back, hitting the pavement with a thud; rolling a few feet. I groan and spit out blood, my vision blurry. Another comes over and nails me in the ribs with his foot. My eyes fly open as a feel his foot practically move my ribs apart. I try to hold in my cry of pain as I wrap an arm around my side.

"Enough. He doesn't want her dead when we get there." One says. "What the!?-"I hear a scuffle going on as I don't get up. I hear a gun go off and I want to look up, I move a bit and feel a bit of pain in my side; but not too much. Suddenly all noise stopped. I hear footsteps coming toward me and I think fast. _If I punch the person in the face it might give me the chance to escape!_ I thought. I wait to the person is right on top of my and I roll around and send a punch directly at my target. The figure catches my punch.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Steve flinched at my sudden attack. I furrow my eyebrows.

"W-What the hell!?" I yell. He lets go of my hand and I scoot back, sitting up. "How did-, what are you doing here?!" I yell at him, pushing myself to my feet.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" He raised his voice slightly, clearing showing that he wasn't happy.

" _Skateboarding!"_ I say angrily in a smart tone. He throws his hands in the air like it's obvious before shaking his head.

"You call what I just walked in on, _skateboarding_!?" He gestures to the guys knocked out behind him. I've never seen him mad before, not that I cared but still. Ok, never mind I do care- he's kinda intimidating.

"I was handling it." I say; limping slightly, over to my skateboard.

"You were about to be kidnapped _again,_ Kate." He says. I scoff.

"It's not like you care," I snap. He opened his mouth to object to that but I speak up before he can. "You never answered my question. What are you doing here?" I make myself clear.

"I saw you go down _criminal alley_ a bit ago." He says. I make a face.

"So you followed me?!" I say.

"Where would you be now if I didn't?" He asked. I huff; I stare at the ground, and then wipe away blood from my busted lip.

"I'm going back to the Tower." I grumble. I was about to throw my skate board out when he grabbed it. I raise an eyebrow. "What the hell Cap! Give me my board!" I say, he holds it above my head as jump up; trying to get it.

"Nope. You're not riding back after that. Let's go." He says, walking back the way we came. I groan and reluctantly follow him, secretly trying to burn a hole through the back of his head with the glare I was showing.

~0~

We got into a taxi and were on our way back to the tower. Steve glanced down at my hands. They were black at the knuckles.

"What happened to your hands?" He asked. I look over, and then look at my hands.

"Punching bag." I answer. He raised an eyebrow.

"There's a reason they have wraps for that." He says with a small smile.

"No pain, no gain." I respond; looking out my window. I can see him eyeing me and he was quiet before shrugging and then nods in agreement after a few seconds. We sit in silence the rest of the way back.

~0~

The taxi pulls up to the Tower and I open the door and run out.

"Kate!-"Steve yells, cutting short as I run in the door. He huffs, throwing the money up front and got out before running for the elevator. I get there first, pushing the button a gazillion times before it opens. I push the close button and it closes just as he reaches it. Stopping just as it closed he sighed and then glanced at the stairs.

…

A few minutes later I ran out onto the communal floor. Clint and Natasha were there and Tony was fixing something at the counter. Pepper wasn't home yet. They look up. Clint furrows his eyebrows first, seeing my busted lip and black eye.

"What happened to you?" He asked in a concerned voice, getting up. I shrug.

"Nothing." I turn around and almost run into someone who was standing right behind me, Steve.

"No, it wasn't _nothing._ " He says, while taking in a breath, then let it out. I huff, and then furrow my eyebrows.

"You seriously did not run up all those stairs just now." I say in a serious tone, looking up at him.

"What happened Kate?" Natasha walks up concerned. She lifts my chin; inspecting my wounds. I shrug again.

"It was nothing.-"I say louder.

"She almost got car knapped." Steve says with clear anger in his voice as he leaned against the counter to face everyone.

"What?!" Natasha looks at him; then me. "Are you ok?" She asked me very seriously.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I assure her.

"Well you don't look fine." Clint says; handing me a wet rag. I put it up to my busted lip.

"You should have Bruce check that rib." Steve says. I glare at him; doing a slashing movement across my neck.

"Rib? - what happened to your rib?" Natasha asked. I throw my hands in the air.

"Nothing! I'm fine!" I say. They stare at me for a moment. "Why are you all acting like you care anyway!?" I demand, eyeing Natasha and then Clint; seeing their expression change in the slightest.

"Don't mind me. It's not like I'm here or anything." Tony says from the counter. Suddenly the elevator dings and we all look in that direction. Coulson walks out; seeing me banged up and bruised. He furrows his eyebrows.

"What happened to you?" He asked. I wave my hand in Steve's direction, expecting him to explain.

"Not much, just a scuffle in an alley." He says. Coulson nods. I scoff.

"Yeah, they wanted to take me to the _Sandbox_." I add in a creepy voice with an evil smile. They all look at me. "What?" I say, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Did you say sandbox?" Clint asked in a serious tone. I nod slowly. Clint folds his arms; then turns a glare on Coulson. Everyone else looks at him. I just raise an eyebrow.

"Fury." Coulson mumbles.

~0~

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" Natasha and Clint yell in sink at Fury. I lean back. Fury came to the Tower. Don't know why; I'm honestly clueless right now.

"Kate could have gotten seriously hurt!" Pepper yells. We told her when she got home. I had a feeling she wouldn't take it well.

"It was not the intention to harm her, just to transport her to the sandbox." Fury says. Natasha was pointing knives at him. (Not literal knives of course, but her eyes might as well have been knives.) Clint looked like he was going to send a punch flying at his face.

"Why didn't you just come here?!" Clint says.

"That's not how SHIELD works Barton; she wasn't cooperating with you people so we needed to speed things along." Fury sends a glare at him.

"And when were you going to tell us she was taken by SHIELD?" Pepper asked.

"Rogers wasn't supposed to be there at that time so we hadn't planned on explaining any of this." Fury says.

"So you weren't going to tell us you kidnapped her and shipped her to the sandbox." Steve sums up, disapproval clear on his face. Fury lets out a breath. Pepper turns to me.

"Kate, why don't you go to your room." Pepper says quietly. I look at everyone, then her and nod. I slowly walk to the elevator and walk in and it closed… But I didn't pick a floor number. I listen in on the conversation.

…

"You should have given us more time with her." Natasha says.

"Romanoff, we don't have all the time in the world do deal with burdens like this. " Fury says.

"She's is not a burden." Bruce speaks up. Fury glanced at him.

"She can be a pain with feathers at times… But Banners' right." Tony adds. Clint rolls his eyes.

"You too." Fury mumbles. They sit in silence for a bit longer. "You're all getting attached to this kid. She has to go." Fury says. He gets up and goes for the stairs.

…

I feel tears come to my eyes as I push the floor number; I walk out when it stops and run to my room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! So I will be updating the next few chapters quickly until I get to Chapter 10. Then updates will be twice a week. So instead of updating Sunday, like I said at the beginning of the first chapter- I will be updating Monday and Friday every week. Hope that works for everyone! :)


	7. Pie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun happy chapter ahead, and just a heads up but I figured out the whole bold, underlining, etc. thing. So no need to inform me of that XD

After Fury left and I went to bed that night I woke up past my alarm. I had slept in. I groan and look at the clock. It was 8:46. I roll out of bed and go get dressed.

A few minutes later I went down to the communal floor, I opened the fridge and took the whipped cream bottle out, squirting it into my mouth; as I did so I hatched an idea. I swallow the cream and grin.

"Jarvis." I called.

"Yes, Ms. Sanders?" He replies.

"Order several dozen packs of whipped cream and pie pans." I smirk at my thought.

"Very well, Ms. Sanders. But I do get the feeling I will regret sending in this order." He says. I smile.

"Don't worry Jarvis, it will be fine." I evilly grin and chuckle.

If I'm leaving soon, I'm gonna make sure I make the most of this and be a pain in everyone's ass.

~0~

I was making dozens of little whipped cream pies; they were covering the counters and kitchen. I had made at least 5 dozen already; I was planning to prank **everyone!**

I hear the elevator ding and I grin. I grab the pie and run up beside the door. It opens and Steve walks out. _Must be coming back from his run._ I thought.

"Hey Steve!" I yell. He turns and I nail him in the face with one of the pies. He flinched at first, then I saw his shoulders relax. I throw my hands in the air laughing. "Bulls eye!" I yell. He wipes the pie off his face and looks at me, raising and eyebrow. My smile goes away. He grins and I back up. "No, no, no, no, no." I yell, running to the counter. He follows me. I run to the opposite side of the counter and he is on the other. I grab a pie and kneel down; my back to the counter; I chuckle to myself. A pie flies over and hits the fridge. I look up and I chuckled.

"Alright, come on out now. I'm done." Steve says. I raise an eyebrow and then stand up; facing him. Suddenly, a pie hits me square in the face. I flinched as it blinded me. I hear him laughing as I wipe it off my face with a shocked expression. Did he actually just- he did. My god I'm gonna have some fun with this. I nod at him.

"Smooth, real smooth." He was still laughing. I pick up a pie, walking up to him, pushing it into his face. Although I had to get on my tip toes to do so since he's really tall.

He backs up and wipes some of it off; throwing it at me. I run away; toward the counter, picking up a pie as I go. He throws another at me and I duck, but on the way back up I get hit I'm the shoulder. I throw one at him as he ducks.

...

About an hour had gone by and we were completely covered head to toe in pie. I pulled a pie off the counter and hid behind it. Slowly I peaked my head out and didn't see him; confused slightly I stood up and looked around. There was suddenly movement to my left and i turned; throwing my pie and it hit something. I then realized what it was when I saw the red, white, and blue. My jaw dropped when Steve chuckled and lowered his shield.

"Wha- That's not fair!" I shout; making a slight pouty face.

"If you can get it from me then you can have it." He says. I roll my eyes.

"Please, it still isn't fair. It's like trying to take candy from a baby." I smirk. He sends me a playful glare and narrow of his eyes and suddenly pulls out a pie from behind his shield and I gasp before ducking behind the counter again. Oh, this is so not fair.

...

A few minutes later, the elevator dings. We both look up; my hand was in the air; about to through a pie and Steve was still hiding behind his shield. We grin and go to either sides of the door. It opens and Sam walks out.

"Hey Sam!" I yell. She turns and both of us throw pies at her. She screams; holding up her hands to block the pies and runs toward the bar. We follow and she runs around the counter and we stop waiting for her to peak out. Steve looks at me and grinned; he puts a pie right on my face; smearing it around. I throw my hands in the air.

"Typical." I say, spitting it out.

"No one ever said time!" Steve laughed. Sam peaked out with her phone and took a picture. We look at her. I grin and hold up two pies.

"Oh sh-!" Sam ducks and the pie skims her head.

...

Operation Pie- as we were now calling it- was still going on. The pies were going to run out soon so we were stocking up. I'm slightly surprised that he's still here. What happened to the serious Super Soldier guy exactly?... Ok, screw it. It's not like I'm gonna start complaining here.

I stood up from behind the counter and threw a pie at him; it hit the shield and he peaked out long enough to throw one at me; it hit my side and I slipped; falling onto the kitchen floor.

"Ow!" I yelled. Then a thought popped into my head. "Ok, time." I shouted; standing up; holding my arm that was mauled by dogs. Steve hesitated before peaked out from behind his shield. Then he saw me holding my arm and immediately put his shield down an walked over.

"Is it your arm?" He asked in a slightly worried tone. I nodded and bit my lip. I've never acted this good in years. "Here, maybe we should have Bruce-" I ran passed him and around the counter; picking up his shield and laughing. He turns and sees me with the shield. He smirks; shaking his head. "Smooth. Real smooth." He shakes his head before putting a hand through his head; getting some whipped cream off his head. I hear Sam laughing from somewhere behind me.

"I honestly didn't think you'd buy that!" I laughed. He rolls his eyes before tossing pie at me in annoyance. I held the shield up and giggled. I had never actually held it before. I was a lot lighter than I'd thought it would be. My arm was too small for the straps on he back, and it was to bit too heavy to hold up-right with one arm; so i held it by the top rim.

...

About a half an hour later, we were still having the pie fight. Sam was still hiding behind the bar. No one heard the elevator door open and Pepper walks out and stops, looking shocked. We both froze. The entire kitchen was completely covered. And I mean completely!

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She asked. We glanced at each other. I walk up to her; covered head to toe in pie.

"Was that outfit expensive?" I asked. She gives me a strange look.

"Well no-"

"Do you like it?" I push in. Steve smirked.

"It's not my favorite-" I bring the pie out from behind my back and push it into her face. Steve let a laugh escape before putting a hand over his mouth and Sam gasped. Pepper gasped and wiped the pie away from her face. I laugh and hold the shield up in from of me; backing up. I back up to far and Steve dumps a pie on my head.

"What- the? - "I grab some whipped cream off the counter and throw it at him. He tries to dodge and grabs a pie on the floor; throwing it in my direction I hits my leg and I slip on the cream on the floor, but regain my balance. Pepper had walked over to Sam, looking tired as she wiped the cream off her top and face. Sam gives a reassuring smile. I picked up a pie and throw it at him, he dodges that one and I back up and slip, falling on my butt. He laughs and picks up another. My eyes widened with a smile as I get up and run for cover. He grabs me from behind and holds my arms down; I yelp as he puts a pie right in my face.

"Ok, ok." Pepper walks out. We stand up straight and I spit out whipped cream; glaring in his direction. He just smirks.

...

Pepper had gone to clean up and was going to give Sam something to change into. Steve and I were "cleaning up" the kitchen, with the occasional throwing of pie. The elevator dings and we chuckle, exchanging a glance; once again, going to opposite sides of the elevator. Clint walks out.

"Hey Clint!" I yell. He turns and I nail him in the face. He leans back in shock as the pie came in contact with his face. I break down laughing. Clint looked in shock.

"Classic. Very impressive." He says. I giggle, knowing he didn't know Steve was there. Then Clint turns and Steve pushes a pie right into his face. Now that caught him by surprise. "What the-!?-"He wipes it off his face and sees Steve chuckling. "You're workin with the enemy!" He says to me; then looking at Steve.

"There are no sides here." I grin. He looks at us.

"Well, this means war!" He says with a grin.

...

Pepper comes out in jean shorts and a tank top, and gasped along with Sam. Steve had Clint in a head lock while I was about to throw a pie at his face. We freeze seeing Pepper. She sighed.

"Are you kids done yet?" She asked. I don't see Steve and Clint exchange a grin.

"Nope!" Clint says. He grabs me and I collapsed, laughing while Steve puts a pie in my face. The elevator door dings and Natasha walks out. We all stop again. She raised an eyebrow. We all look in her direction; exchanging glances.

"Do I really wanna know?" She asked. Clint lets go of me and we all stand up.

"Not necessarily." Clint says. I giggled. She smirked and raised an eyebrow. Pepper clasps her hands together.

"Alright. I'll get a cleaning crew up here. Natasha, can you escort the hooligans to their rooms so a war doesn't break out in the elevator?" She asked Natasha nodded with a smile and we all laugh as we make our way to the elevator.

~0~

That was the most fun I had had in a while! I did feel a bit weird at first, but Sam did tell me to make the best of it. So that's what I did. I was surprised that Steve stayed and fought as long as he did, he just seems so serious most of the time that it shocked me when the first pie hit me in the face… of course Clint joining in was expected, knowing him.

I walk into my bathroom. Apparently, Thor was coming today with Jane and her intern Darcy. After taking a shower to get the whipped cream out of my hair; I dried my hair and I wanted to look fairly descent, so I put on my favorite black ripped skinny jeans and my black army shirt and tan jacket with combat boots before retreating back downstairs.

As I walk onto the floor. I see the cleaning crew packing up; there wasn't any whipped cream left. It looked darker in the room now sense it didn't look like a winter wonder land anymore. I walk over to Sam. She shrinks into the couch.

"You don't have any cream or pies do you?" She asked. I smile.

"No, Sam. I do not." I tell her; holding up both my hands to show her. She smiles and sits up.

"Good." She says in a sweet tone.

~0~

A few hours later I hear the elevator door ding and look up from my book. Yes, I was reading a book, book. Not an electronic one. It opens and I see Thor walk out first in some actual earth clothing! Jane followed and so did Darcy. Pepper looks up from the counter; she was getting out plates and stuff for the 5 pizzas we ordered, with cheese sticks.

"Oh-, you're here!" She walks up.

"Yeah, finally." Jane sighs, hugging Pepper. Darcy was looking around and Thor was eyeing the pizza boxes. Pepper glanced at me; who was looking a bit frightened by the newcomers.

"Oh, um. We have a guest here." She waves me over. I get up and walk over. "This is Kate." She says with a smile; her hands on my shoulders. Jane shakes my hand.

"Hi, I'm Jane." She says. She glanced behind her. "Oh, and this is… Darcy." She says.

"Sup." Darcy holds up a peace sign. I smirk. Thor was actually over by the pizza boxes now, and was about to slip a hand into the box when Pepper lightly slapped him.

"Ah, ah, ah! Now til everyone gets down here." She says sternly. "And, Thor." Pepper says pointing to me. "This is Kate." He turns to me and smiles.

"I am Thor, or Asgard." He greets. I smile and nod. I mouth a _pretty cool_ to Pepper. She chuckles and gets out some napkins.

"Jarvis, tell everyone to hurry up and get down here!" She says.

"As you wish Ms. Potts." He responded.

~0~

Dinner was fun. Thor eats at least two of the five pizzas and Clint and Tony couldn't stop arguing over who got the last slice of chocolate cake.

"I saw it first I should get it." Clint says.

"Well, I was living in _my_ building first, so I technically **own** the little slice of goodness!" I couldn't stop laughing as I watched their little fight. Eventually Thor just picked it up and shoved it into his mouth. The room grew quiet and Tony was the first to speak up.

"What. The hell." He said. Clint snorted, and Natasha rolled her eyes.

…

Soon after dinner Jane and Thor had to go. I felt a bit sad. It was fun having them around! And Darcy was a riot, I would miss her. But she gave me her number so we can text. I stood back as they said their goodbyes and watched them go. The room grew quiet and everyone stared at the door for a minute.

I go over to the fridge to get some water; I open it and see a familiar sight. Whipped cream can. I feel the corners of my mouth twitch into a smile and I take the can out of the fridge. I creep up behind Steve and squirt it at him. It hits the side of his head and he flinched. I snort along with Clint.

He turns to me, looking fairly pissed off. I chuckle.

"What? Now were even!" I say. He cracks a smile, and a sigh.

"You just had to have the last word didn't you?" He says whipping it off. Pepper immediately walks up.

"That means there will be no more whipped cream throwing in this Tower!" She makes clear.

"Aw." Me and Clint whine. She shakes her head, handing Steve a paper towel.

~0~

After going into my room and locking my doors so I didn't wake up with whipped cream anywhere near me, I got into some shorts and an oversized T-shirt. I snuggled into my bed and smiled before closing my eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, comment or leave kudos if you want


	8. Kate's Ability

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next one! You find out Kate's ability, yay. Also, quick note, I don't know what's up with the end notes but they got mixed up for some reason and the end point for chapter 1 was at the end of chapter 7 *shrug* don't know what that's about? but I hope it fixed itself, otherwise I'll look into it.

About a week and a half had gone by since Fury's little visit… I really despise that guy. I listened to what Sam said; I was making the best of the time I had with them. I did pranks with Clint, sparred with Natasha, and took the same running route with Steve.

Since then; the days have been going by really fast. Not knowing when Fury will have me kicked out is keeping me on edge. Everyone could tell, and they would try to ease my conscious by distracting me with something to do… That just made it worse.

I continued to sketch out Stark Tower in my sketch book when I hear something going on outside my door. I lean out; listening on the conversation.

" _You ask her. I'm stayin right here."_ I could tell that was Clint.

" _You're such a weirdo, I'm going in."_ That was Natasha. I quickly look back at my sketch book; hearing my door open. "Hey Kate." She says. I turn around. "Were going to go get shwarma for everyone. Wanna come?" I grin and nod.

"Sure, but let me get dressed first." I was still wearing my Iron Man pajama pants that Tony insisted I get, and a tank top, despite it being 4pm. She gives a nod.

"Meet you in the lobby." I nod and she closes the door. I run to my closet and look through my clothes. I pick out some jean capris, a tan shirt that said **ARMY** , and my black combat boots, before running to the bathroom the get changed.

~0~

I walk out of the elevator and see Natasha and Clint waiting. Natasha sees me and smiles. I smile as I walk up beside them. We walk out the door and across the street before making our way to the joint.

A few minutes later we arrived. I follow Clint in while Natasha does the talking to get our food. We wait a few minutes before getting our food. Clint hands me two bags and Natasha grabs a few and Clint grabs the remaining two. We walk out of the store when Clint drops one of them.

"Oh-, shit…" He leans down to pick up the splattered food. Natasha rolled her eyes with a huff.

"How the hell did you manage to drop that?" She asked.

"I don't know!" He says in a childish tone.

"You were holding one in one hand and one in the other, how could you…-" I zone out of the conversation as I'm looking at my surroundings. I see a several people entering the park and some exiting. A few people pass in front of us and my view of the park is blocked for a second. I lean to the left; and see something. A mother and her daughter; who looked about 4 were entering the park. I smile, remembering the times my mom would take me to the neighborhood park.

But that moment ended when a guy came out of nowhere and grabbed the mother's purse. I tense when I see her shout at the man to let go. The daughter had run behind the mom. I drop the food and run across the street toward them while Natasha and Clint are still talking.

…

Clint picks up the food and throws it in the trash.

"I'll go buy a new one, Kate could you-"He turns and see Kate gone; and the food sitting on the bench beside them. He looks around. Natasha furrows her eyebrows; looking around too.

"Now where'd she go?!" He asked sounding confused. A scream fills the air as Clint and Natasha's heads jerk to the left seeing the guy trying to now grab the mother. Clint huffs before the both of them run over.

"Hey!" Natasha yells. They were almost on the other side of the street when a big animal leaps out of the bushes. Clint and Natasha come to a complete stop.

It was a Bengal Tiger. It growls and pieces the air with a chilling roar as it jumps in front of the guy and bats at him with claws sheathed. The guy yelps; jumping back and falling; and the purse goes flying. Clint and Natasha watched in shock as the Tiger doesn't show any aggression toward the man, just giving plane warning signs to back the hell off.

The guy kicks at the Tiger but doesn't reach as he is scooting back. The mother was in shock; lying in the grass. When the man had let go of the purse she flew back to the ground. She was breathing fast and the daughter was looking mortified. Clint runs over behind the mother and child.

He gently grabs her arms and pulls her back to her feet and steps in front of them. Natasha walks up beside him. The guy yells and gets up before fleeing. The tiger gives one last roar in his direction before turning to the mother and child.

It looks to its left; seeing the purse and pads over; picking it up in his mouth. It turns and walks toward them. Clint holds his arm out in front of the mother and her daughter in a protective manner. The Tiger stops and stares at Clint; then his arm, and then to the mother and child. It was about 10 feet away from them. Natasha was holding the girls hand when the young one lets go and runs out in front of them. Clint doesn't see her til its too late and goes to grab her but she runs over to the Tiger.

"Tigger!" She squeals. The Tiger lets the girl take the purse and she pats its head. The Tiger nudges her face with a purring noise and she giggles. The adults look at the two of them in shock; mouths open. The girl waves bye to the Tiger and runs back to her mother. Clint slowly had lowered his arm. The mother leans down, looking close to tears; holding out her arms from her daughter. The girl giggles and toddles over to her. "Here's your purse mommy." She says. The mother pulls her into a hug and picks her up with a smile.

Clint and Natasha stood off the side. They turn to the Tiger; who was just standing watching the little family. By the way it eyed the two; it looked like a glimmer of sadness appeared in its eyes. It turns to Natasha and Clint and gives them a calm look with its piercing eyes. They could see now that one was dark blue and the other ice blue. It's gives them one last look and runs off into the bushes. Clint and Natasha had a staring moment before turning back.

The mother walks up to them with the girl in her arms. "Thank you so much." She says, putting a hand on Clint's shoulder Clint smiles.

"Don't worry about it." He assures her. Natasha gives a nod and she walks toward the road at a fast pace to call a taxi. Now Clint and Natasha noticed camera crews were there and had gotten a bit on film. They roll their eyes before walking across the street and disappearing into the crowd; taking off their hoodies so no one would recognize them.

They walk a block, keeping an eye out for Kate.

…

I run around a corner; breathing heavy. _Well that was interesting._ I thought. I keep walking and look ahead to see Natasha and Clint with the bags of food. I run up to them, trying not to breathe hard like I was doing something elsewhere. Clint looks at me with a priceless face.

"Where the hell were you!?" He raised his voice in a playful manner. I shrug, trying to slow my breathing.

"I uh, thought you were behind me." I say. _I hope they'll by it._ I thought. Clint gives me a look that he shares with Natasha.

"Alright then, here carry that." He nods; then hands me two bags. I smile and nod; following them back. _Well that was easy._

~0~

Back at the tower I was helping Pepper with something on her computer at the bar; when Natasha, Steve, and Clint were on the opposite side of the room on the couches.

…

"She's lying." Natasha says casually; looking at Kate with a straight face. Clint turns to her.

"Well of course she is. You really think she dropped the food and just kept walking?" He says. Steve had an eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry, did I miss something?"

"When we were getting food, this dude was trying to take this woman's purse, and the good people we are; had gone over to help." Clint says with a smirk.

"Except a _Bengal Tiger_ beat us to it." Natasha finishes. Steve took in a breath; holding it like he was about to speak.

"Wait-, so…" He starts.

"It didn't hurt them, it chased the guy away and acted like a house cat after that! Loving up to the mother's daughter..." Clint says with a weird face. Steve just nods; then looks at Kate, and then back.

"So what does she have to do with this?" He asked. Clint and Natasha exchange glances.

"We don't know exactly, but she disappeared right before it all happened and then just appeared out of the blue after it was over, plus gave us a pretty lame excuse as to why she ran off." Clint says. Steve raised an eyebrow.

"What are you implying exactly? That Kate's the Tiger?" He says with a smirk. Natasha rolls her eyes.

"Hey! Anything's possible." Clint defends; pointing at him.

…

I gulp, over hearing their conversation.

"Hey, Pepper. I'll be right back." I get up and walk to the elevator. Pepper watches me go.

"Um, ok. Just, be back soon were gonna eat." I give a nod and walk into the elevator; catching a glimpse of Clint, Steve, and Natasha glance at me.

~0~

I run to my desk and pick up my phone; calling a number. It rings a few times.

" _Hello?_ " I hear Sam's voice.

"Sam! There on to me." I say.

" _W-what?_ " She says.

"My ability. There on to me, help!" I say. There's silence for a minute.

" _How did they get closer to finding out?_ "

"They saw me." I say.

" _They saw you shift?_!" She says. I sigh.

"No, after that. I kinda disappeared right before, and then came back right after." I say.

" _Ah, well that makes sense._ " She says.

"Yeah…"

" _So what were you doing exactly?_ " She asked.

"I saved this lady and her daughter from getting robbed." I say.

" _Oh yeah? Did you enjoy it? - being the hero_." I hesitate, rethinking the whole experience.

"Yeah, I guess I did." I say after a minute.

" _Well, you could always do that you know; be a hero…Just don't get caught!"_ She adds. I grin.

"Will do. I'll give it a try." I say bye and hang up before retreating down stairs.

~0~

**Two days later….**

I woke up to the sunlight in my face. It had been a couple days sense my first save. It felt nice to do some good around here. I sit up and rub my eyes; swinging my feet off the side of the bed. I get up and grab my running shoes, shorts, and shirt before walking to the bathroom to change.

A few minutes later I come out of the bathroom, teeth brushed, dressed, and my wavy hair up in a ponytail. I walk to the elevator; pushing the down button and wait for the door. A few seconds later it opens and I walk in. I wait for the door to open and walk out; seeing Steve waiting at the front door. He turns when I walk up.

"Ready?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be." I reply. He smirks and we walk out the door and pick up a jog.

~0~

An hour later, we were jogging around a bend in the park. I was getting much better at this running thing… well, I knew he was going a lot slower than he normally does when I'm taking his route but, you understand what I'm getting at. We pass a few trees when I heard something. I look around Steve as we're running and see a guy running to a car will a young child; around 2 maybe. It was crying and I could hear police sirens in the distance. A man and woman ran out screaming and yelling. I have extremely good hearing because of my ability.

I remember Sam's words; then forgot about a very important variable that will get in the way. _Great, he's not gonna let me out if his sight._ I thought. I look around for some kind of distraction. I see a water fountain.

"Keep goin I'll catch up." I slow down to a stop. He turns and stops.

"Where are you going?"

"Just to that fountain." I say. He raises an eyebrow.

"We had a water break 5 minutes ago." He says with a smirk. I hesitate.

"…Well, I'm still thirsty." I say, making my point. He puts his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, I'm going left, so you know." He says. I nod. He turns and continues. I look around for people before running into the bushes.

...

Steve continues to run after he took the left turn. Suddenly a cry fills the air and he jerks his head around to his right. A big cat ran across the street and took a flying leap onto a pickup truck bed.

He furrows his eyebrows as he runs to the edge of the road. The big spotted cat roars in a man's direction as he was running toward said truck with a child firmly under his arm. He comes to a dead stop seeing the big cat. A low growl comes from the cat; its ears all the way back on its head. The man lunges for the truck door and the cat roars at him; batting at him with claws unsheathed. The man curses and the cat growls and leaps; jumping off the truck in front of him. The guy drops the kid and runs for a car. The cat runs forward and the kid falls onto it, it hissed at first from the weight, and then sets the child down gently by the shirt.

After nudging the kid; and seeing the parents run up, the cat growls and runs after the man; leaping onto his back and knocking him to the pavement. The guy yelps as he twists over; the cat on his chest. It roars up right into the man's face; showing the whites of its teeth.

Police cars roll up and officers exit their vehicles; locking down the area around the scene. Police hold their guns up to the cat and man. The cat's ears perk up at seeing the officers. It bites down on the guy's sleeve. He yells for it to let go, punching and kicking but the cat ignores it as it pulls the guy toward the officers. The officer's watch as it drops the man down at their feet before giving them a look.

The officers don't lower their guns but their fingers were slowly coming off the trigger. Almost a minute went by until one officer puts his gun away and grabs the man slowly while eyeing the cat; putting him in hand cuffs. He gives a slightly confused but grateful smile and a nod before the other officers get him to their car.

The cat looks around; seeing camera crews and tons of people that had watched the whole thing. The cat takes a few steps toward the park. It looks around and someone catches its eye. Steve was looking at the cat in shock. The cat stops; mid step. Staring at him, its ears perk up, and its eyes go wide. Steve could now see that the Leopard had two different colored eyes; one dark blue and one ice blue. They had a moment of just staring til the cat runs toward the park entrance and runs across; disappearing into the bushes.

~0~

Steve watches the cat run into the bushes, before looking around. Kate hasn't come back yet. He runs over to the path, looking both ways. Suddenly, Kate runs around the corner at a run and stops.

"Where'd you go?" She says, breathing heavy. He blinks a few times before finding his voice.

"I was-, just..." He trails off. Rethinking what just happened. Then he realized something. "Where did _you_ go?" He asked slowly. Kate raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean; I took a left like you said." She says. Steve looked at her a bit longer before crossing his arms.

"We were going that way, Kate." He points in the opposite direction. Her eyes get a bit wider and she gulps once.

"W-We were?" She asked. He gives a slow nod. She stares at him for a minute. "Uh,... Oops." She says with a nervous smile. Steve just gives her a slow nod.

"Let ahead back." He says. She smiles and they pick up a jog. _What was that all about?_ He thought.

~0~

Back at the tower, we had an extremely quiet ride up to the communal floor. Once the door opened I walked quickly over to the fridge, wanting to get away from any question Steve might ask. He sat down on the couch while I was at the fridge; drinking a cup of milk from the night before.

"So, that whole time, you were getting a drink of water? And didn't hear the Commotion going on at the entrance?" Steve finds his voice. I stop drinking my milk; setting it down on the counter.

"Yeah, what commotion?" I ask. I knew I was a really, really, REALLY bad lair, but maybe I could steer him off.

"A jaguar or leopard… whatever it was; stopped a kidnapping in broad daylight, out of nowhere." He states notch handedly." I gulp.

"Uh, wow. Wasn't expecting that. What happened?" I lean against the counter. He shrugs; standing up and walking over.

"Well..." He pauses with a sigh. "Some guy had taken this kid when a big cat jumped into the bed of a truck and refused to let the guy leave. " He says. I nod slowly. "Then it dragged the man over to the police to be taken away." He adds, still eyeing me. I nod, feeling uncomfortable. _I really hope he's not catching on._ I thought. _I have a really bad feeling by the way he's eyeing me that he's catching on._

"That's really interesting, but uh-, I'll be right back." I back up; making my way to the elevator and heading to my room.

~0~

I walk over to my phone and call up Sam. I hear it ringing before someone picks it up.

" _Yes Kate?_ " Sam says warily.

"Yeah, Hi. Uh, yeah, so about what you said a few days ago... Do you really think this is a good idea?" I ask nervously.

" _Kate, it's up to you. You said yourself you like saving people, that it makes you happy. So if that's what you like doing then do it._ " She says. I hesitate my response.

"Ok, it's just... There getting closer to figuring me out and I don't know if I should tell them." I say.

" _Well, do you trust them?"_ I look at the ground for a moment and shrug to myself.

"Yeah, I guess so. I mean- I know I can trust them, part of me just doesn't want to. But it's not them I'm worried about. It's SHIELD."

" _Ok, so if you really don't want anything getting out, I would wait a bit. And when you're ready to tell them, you can._ " She says in a reassuring voice.

"Ok then. - But... What if they find out before I'm ready to tell them?" I ask.

" _Just explain it to them, they'll understand Kate._ " Sam says. I sigh and nod.

"Ok, thanks Sam." I say.

" _Don't mention it._ " I smile and hang up. I put my phone on my nightstand and sit down at my desk for a moment: looking out the window. _This is so complicated._

~0~

"She's up to something." Steve starts. Natasha and Clint were sitting on the couches along with him.

"Oh, you just caught on to that now did you?" Clint says in a happy voice. Steve sends him a glare.

"So, she wasn't there for the whole thing?" Natasha asked. Steve shook his head.

"No, she needed another water break after our first one five minutes before."

"Was she showing signs of being tired?" Clint says. He shakes his head again.

"Actually, she was picking up the pace a bit today. She wasn't breathing hard; didn't even break a sweat." He says. Clint furrows his eyebrows; thinking.

"We need to get more information. Just, let's keep an eye on her." She says to the both of them. They all nod.

~0~

**3 days later…**

I looked over the water as the sun was going down. Pepper and I were spending some quality time together; she's been so busy at work we have hardly seen each other all week. And I wanted to get away from Natasha, Clint, and Steve sense they were practically stalking me around. I'm not kidding! Every time I swore I was alone one of them would pop up out of no where.

I was taking a day off from running and was making tea in the kitchen and Steve scared the shit out of me and almost made me spill hot water on myself. He apparently was taking a break too that day. What an odd coincidence. And while trying to read a book on the communal floor Clint fell out of a vent in the ceiling and crashed into the coffee table about a foot in front of me. That also scared the shit out of me. And don't get me started on Natasha. She doesn't really scare me, but she'll suddenly appear in the same room I am in at times. She doesn't say anything, or make any noise. She's stealthy and it's creepy as hell.

Anyway though, back to what's happening now.

Pepper walks up with two ice creams. I smile as she hands me my soft served vanilla cone. She got strawberry.

"Thank you." I say. She smiles.

"You are very welcome." She says; raising her chin with a smile. I laugh. "So how have you been?" She asked; turning to me. I hesitate; looking over the water, I turn back and smile.

"Good. I've been good." I say. She smiles.

"I'm glad to hear it." She says. We stand in silence for a minute. I look over the water again. Despite the smelly city, this was beautiful. The way the sunset reflected off the water really put my mind at ease.

"I wanna thank you again, for letting me stay here for the meantime," I say quieter. She chuckles from the side and gives me a quick side hug.

"Don't thank me Kate, you deserve to be with people who do care about you, considering everything you've gone through,"

I was quiet for several seconds when I heard her words. She actually believes that they all care about me? Or is _she_ playing me too? No, Pepper wouldn't do that. I hope.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell them about my powers, as long as I keep it a secret I stay here basically. It isn't really fair for yo-"

"Kate, it's perfectly ok. I don't know much about SHIELD, but they must want this information for a reason. Unfortunately Nick's tactics are a bit unfair and also unnecessary, you should tell us when you're ready to. And you can stay with us as long as you need to," She gives me a smile.

_...Really?_ I thought. I quickly shake that from my head.

I look over the water somewhat behind Pepper. Something caught my eye and my facial expression goes dark. I could see a boat slowly sinking at the mouth of the bay. I glance back at Pepper quickly. I clumsily lick my ice cream and it gets all over my face. Pepper laughs.

"Oh!-, here, let me get you a napkin." I smile.

"Thanks Pepper." She smiles and leaves. I swipe the ice cream off my face and look toward the water. I look around me seeing no one looking in my direction. I crawl under the railing and jump into the water.

~0~

Pepper comes back with several napkins but stops up short when no one is there. She looks around.

"Kate?" She calls. Pepper starts walking around; looking for the teenager.

People start walking past her toward the railing; taking out there phones and looking with mouths open. She turns and sees what's causing the commotion. There was a fishing boat sinking into the mouth of the bay. Fins could be seen in the water.

Pepper didn't know what to do; she kept an eye out for Kate as she watched. Someone behind her dialed 911, or whoever you'd call in that kinda if emergency.

...

The fisher men that were on the boat had to jump; the boat sunk into the bay and out of sight. The shredded water as they kept wary eyes out for any uninvited sea life. Suddenly, a small fin appears in the water. One of the fisher men points at it as it circles them in deadly silence. The fin makes a half circle; now coming toward them. They panic; swimming back as fast as try could when suddenly, a different animal joins the scene. It rams the shark and bites down on its tail. Black and white splotches could be seen on it.

It was a killer whale. The Orca bites on the shark's tail, making the shark move around, trying to face the whale. The Orca suddenly flips over; taking the shark with it. People watch in awe as the shark enters tonic. The shark clams and goes into the drug like rest. The whale was still upside down. The whale lets go; allowing the shark to regain itself and swim off. The whale swims up to the sailors; making several squeaking noises. The sailors look confused. The Orca swims up beside them; it's front fin in front of them. One sailor swims forward and holds onto the fin.

The other sailors just watch. The Orca blows; sending spray into the air. The sailor's takes that as a hurry it up and hold onto the fin. The Orca starts to swim back to the railing when the people were standing; Pepper had gotten to the front. It swims up beside the rail and people reach out to pull the people up. Once they were all on, Camera crews seemed to have arrived before any law enforcement did. The Orca squeaks and waves to them. There are several "Aw!"s from the crowd til the Orca swims off.

Pepper got a picture and was going to show it to Kate, when she found her. She looks down at the two pictures she took. She got one of the left side of its face and one of the right side of its face. She noticed something different. The Orca's eyes were to different colors. One was an icy blue and the other a dark navy blue. She smiles at the pictures. Then she remembers what she was supposed to be doing. Pepper walks away from the scene and looks for Kate.

...

I run around the ice cream stand and see Pepper walking frantically around looking for me. I run up and she sees me... Soaking wet.

"Kate?! Where were you?" She asked me in a worried voice. I take in a deep breath.

"I was watching that whale when I got pushed over the railing!" I say in shock. She looks at me in shock too.

"Who?" She says in a firm tone.

"I don't really know, I think someone bumped me when walking by and I fell in." I say; my teeth chattering. It was August, so slightly cold. She takes off her jacket and puts it around my shoulders.

"Let's head back." She says quickly and I nod and we go to the road to call a taxi. _That was easier than I'd thought it'd be!_

~0~

We walk back into the tower and everyone was there, including Tony and Bruce who came up to get a quick bite.

"What happened to you?" Clint smirked. I give a sarcastic laugh, hugging Pepper's jacket tighter around me.

"Ha-ha." I say sarcastically with a glare.

"Kate was pushed over a railing." Pepper says. Everyone furrows their eyebrows.

"What?" Steve spoke somewhat loudly as he got up from the couch.

"Well, this Orca saved these sailors from a sinking ship. I was looking for Kate right before but she had already fallen in I guess. I found her right after the Orca left." She says; rubbing my back. _You could have worded that any other way Pepper!_ I say in my head.

Clint, Natasha, and Steve exchange glances. I gulp.

"Kate why don't you go change, ok?" Steve says after eyeing me suspiciously for a brief moment. I swallow and quickly nod.

"Be back in a few." I say; hurrying to the elevator. Pepper smiles at me. Clint, Steve, and Natasha walk to Pepper.

"So, you didn't know where Kate was the whole time that Orca was there?" Clint asked. Pepper shook her head.

"Well, you don't need to make it sound like I was being irresponsible." She says in a playful tone. They exchange glances again.

"About that." Clint laughs. "We've all had our 'disappearing Kate' moments." Clint says. She raised an eyebrow, and then shakes her head.

"I got these pictures." She says, holding out her phone. They all look at them and they're eyebrows shot up.

"I saw that same thing!" Clint and Steve say at the same time. They look at each other.

"Wait, the whole light blue dark blue eye thing?" Clint says to him.

"Yeah, I saw the same thing on a different animal." He says. Clint laughs.

"Whoa."

"This is getting weird." Natasha mumbles, rubbing her head.

"So, we've all seen the same set of eyes on several different animals?" Pepper says. They all nod.

"Kate defiantly has something to do with all this." Clint says in a low voice. Pepper raised an eyebrow. Clint looks at her.

"Long story…." He says. She gives a slow nod before walking to the kitchen to talk to Tony; who was stuffing the last piece of chocolate cake from the night before into his mouth. The piece he apparently snuck into the fridge before dinner had started.

~0~

I come out of the bathroom after I took a shower. _I have to tell them._ I thought. _They're going to find out sooner or later anyway. I can't stand stalking around anymore._ I say in my head. _If they ask about it, I have to tell them._

I then realize what I'm saying and thoughts of SHIELD pop into my head. I need another source! I pull out my phone and dial Sam.

" _Kate, what is it now? Who did you save?_ " She says in a tired but playful voice.

"I think I'm gonna tell them if they ask. They know that I'm involved somehow, and I can't hide it anymore. I just don't know what to do about SHIELD." I say.

" _Well, I would tell the Kate. If you feel comfortable with them knowing, then you need to tell them before you change your mind. And don't worry about SHIELD. If you don't want them knowing I'm sure they can figure something out._ " She tells me. I swallow.

"Ok, wish me luck."

" _Break a leg!_ " I grin and hang up. I make my way to the elevator.

~0~

I walk onto the communal floor, taking a deep breath. I see everyone at the table eating. I take a seat next to Pepper, Clint was across from me and Steve and Natasha on either sides of him. Tony was next to Pepper and Bruce at the center/end of the table. I glance up and see Steve shift slightly and clear his throat, causing everyone to look up and or tense.

"Ok, Kate. We need to talk to you-"

"About my ability?" I finish; swallowing. There is silence. He looks at me for a moment before giving a small smile. I think he noticed I was practically shaking in my seat from nervousness.

"Yeah." He adds. I nod and swallow.

"I'll tell you." I say. It looked as though they were leaning in to hear it like I would whisper it or something. Tony was half may to putting a carrot into his mouth while everyone else had put the forks down waiting for me to speak. _Oh god, this is it._ I thought. Natasha was giving me a look, like saying "well?" playfully. Clint looked excited. Steve was the only one who looked pretty calm about it, that actually helped me a bit. Bruce was just looking at me over his book. I take a deep breath.

"I-... I'm a shape shifter."


	9. Cheater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! So this chapter is being updated now, and several hours from now I will be updating chapter 10. And then it will be on the Monday, Friday updating schedule.

"I-... I'm a Shape Shifter." Everyone's eyes widened. Tony started choking on the carrot he had put in his mouth. Everyone glances at him. He chokes on it for like 10 more seconds. I watched him wide eyed. _Was it that much of a shock!?_ I thought.

"You're- kidding,." He blurts out after he got a breath, putting his hand to his upper chest as he was getting in breaths now. I was still looking around a bit nervously and can't help but smirk after a few seconds.

"That. Is. Bad ass." Clint holds out his fist and I pump it with mine.

"Wait-… so, you can-"Steve finds his voice.

"Shift into animals. Yeah." I finish. He nods slowly before looking down at the table briefly. Pepper looked shocked. Bruce looked intrigued in the conversation.

"So, were you born with this? Or was it experimental?" Bruce says. I shrug.

"I honestly don't know. I've had it for as long as I can remember." I admit. He nods, putting a hand to his chin.

"So why were you against telling us?" Natasha asked. I look at the table.

"Well, at the place." I start; refereeing to the warehouse. "They, tortured me; and when I lose control emotionally, I can't control my ability." I say. She nods.

"So what did you think we were gonna do to you?" Clint asked slowly, as if he didn't know whether he should ask. I shrug.

"I wasn't really worried about you all; it was SHIELD I was worried about."

"Well, that's understandable after Fury's visit." Steve says and I could see the disapproval about what happened spread across his face. I give a nod and glance at the table for a moment.

"What happens exactly?" Tony asked. "Do you hulk out like Banner?" He jokes. Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Actually, it's kinda like that." I say. He stops laughing. "When I lose control, the first animal that pops into my head I change into. From there, I'm gone. It all depends on the animal's behavior." I say. "So, if it was a bunny- I guess nothing would really happen. But if it was something like a bear or a wolf…" I trail off. They all nod. "But if I'm in control then my mind is still in the animal. Even if I'm not in control I can still contain some of it." I add.

"So, that was all you. The tiger, the leopard, the Orca…" Steve says. I nod.

"Yeah, sorry I ditched you all." I say with a smirk. I remember one other thing. "Oh, uh… also, about those dogs." I start. Everyone raised an eyebrow. I laugh. "Yeah, I didn't get that injury in…. well, human form. I fought them off in wolf form." I admit with a straight face.

"Really? So, you were protecting Sam… did she know?" Natasha says. I nod.

"I didn't know that she knew, but I had to take that chance." I say quieter. Pepper puts an hand on my shoulder.

"It was a brave thing to do." She tells me. I give a small smile, looking down.

"So, when did you start the saving spree?" Clint says with a smirk. I look back up and laugh a little.

"Well, the first one was with you guys and the whole Tiger thing." I say. "Then when I was running with you." I look at Steve. "And there were a few others over the days…" I gulp. "I was kinda sneaking out during the night." I admit. Steve sighed, giving a slow and knowledgeable nod.  

"So that's why you were falling asleep during our runs." He says with a chuckle. I smile with a shrug. Those 3 days before I was out with Pepper were the nights I snuck out to find trouble. I couldn't get away during the day since Steve, Natasha, and Clint were watching me all like hawks, literally for Clint.

"Yeah, sorry bout that…" I scratch the back of my head. We were all quiet for a minute.

"So… demonstration?" Clint grins. I smile.

"Sure." I shrug. "That's ok right?" I turn to Pepper.

"Yeah, kid. Its fine, now amuse us." Tony buts in. I smile and get up, then go behind the counter and kneel down.

…

Everyone leans up; trying to see. A German shepherd suddenly walks out from behind the counter.

"Whoa." Clint says. The dog walks up and sits by the table. "Can it understand us?" Clint says to everyone. The dog barks. Clint turns back and pets its head.

"You know that's _Kate_ your petting right?" Natasha says with an eyebrow raised. Clint shrugs.

"It's technically a dog, Nat." He states. "C'mon, you can pet her too. Just don't think of it as Kate," He says with a laugh. Natasha gave him a funny look and then eyed the dog briefly. The dog was staring at her, panting happily with a wagging tail. She finally sighs and pets the dogs head.

The dog looks to table and walks over and crawls under the table, lying down. Everyone looks under the table with a smirk.

"So… anyone want this last burger?" Pepper says after everyone looks back up. Clint goes out to grab it when a dog head pops up and grabs it off the plate.

"Hey!" Clint says. He gets up and chases the German shepherd around the table in circles.

"Give it up Clint." Steve says with a smirk.

"No way in hell I'm giving it up without a fight! That's my burger." He says. The dog runs behind the counter and takes it in one bite; swallowing it then licks its lips.

Clint sits back down with a frown. Suddenly, the German shepherd comes back; this time taking Steve's burger off his plate. He tries to grab it but the dog runs back behind the counter. Clint does a fist pump.

"Ha! Don't like you food being taken don't you!?" He says. The dog disappears behind the counter.

…

I stand up. Then walk back over to the table.

"What's with the burger theft?" Clint says. I shrug.

"I was hungry." I say, taking a bite of my burger. Steve and Clint exchange a glance.

"Does your ability have a limit?" Natasha asked. I shrug.

"Well, actually. I don't know the limit. I think I can do extinct animals. At least my parents said I did one once when I was little. Who knows, soon enough I might be able to do fictional animals." I say.

"Interesting, so you set your own limits." Bruce says more to himself.

"Precisely."

"Wow." Pepper says. I smile.

"Yeah, I guess it has that effect on people."

"Kate, we have to tell Fury." Natasha says. I hesitate before nodding.

"I know." I say.

"Don't worry; we won't let him take you to the sand box." Clint says. I grin.

"Well that's a relief." I say with a laugh. We sit and talk for the rest of dinner. After that I went to my room and logged my day. I called up Sam too; telling her that I told them. She was happy for me, and reminded me to make the best of the time. I forgot about that. I would probably be leaving soon.

I crawled into bed after getting dressed and pulled the covers up to my chest. I smile and close my eyes.

~0~

Coulson walks up to Fury. They had found out Kate's ability. Fury turns when he walks up.

"Tell me you have good news." He says. Coulson nods.

"We have her ability. She can shift into animals… Any animal to be precise, including extinct ones." Coulson tells him. Fury shows no emotion.

"Based on your report you don't think she's a threat, is that correct?' Fury asked.

"Sir, I do not." Fury is quiet for a moment.

"Get her in a foster home. The sooner she's gone the better." Coulson gives a nod and leaves.

~0~

The next morning I woke up extra early. 30 minutes earlier than normal. I get out of bed and grab my shorts, shoes, and shirt before running to the bathroom. I come out a few minutes later; dressed. I run for the elevator.

I walk out of the elevator and see Steve sitting in on of the chairs in the lobby. He looks up and sees me. He smiles; standing up.

"Why're you up this early?" I ask slowly.

"Why are you?" He asks right back with a raise eyebrow. "I'm always in the gym before our runs, Jarvis told me you were up earlier so I decided to beat you to the door." He says and I pull my lips into a thin line.

"I dunno," I mumble and look at the ground. I don't look up but can see him nod to himself just barely.

"So you're ready to go then?" He asked. I nod. We walk toward the door and toward the park.

A few minutes later we walk into the entrance of the park. We start to jog and go a few meters when I turn to him.

"I'll race you to the lake." I say. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, real funny Kate." He chuckles.

"I'm serious!' I laugh. He looks ahead, then back at me. "I have faith in myself" I say with a proud smirk.

"It's not a logical decision on your part,' He says with a laugh as he looked down at me. I just scoff playfully and roll my eyes.

"Please- I can totally kick your butt at running," I state surely. He narrows his eyes at me and I raise a challenging eyebrow in reply.

"... I'll give you a head start." I smirk and pick up a sprint. I hear him gaining. He passes me and I grin, running down a path through the trees.

…

Steve kept running when a furry mass runs up beside him. He looks down and sees a German shepherd running beside him. He raised an eyebrow. The dog speeds up and passes the lake right before he does. He slows down, breathing a little bit harder; watching the dog run into the bushes.

…

I walk out of the bushes toward him, with a smirk. He looks at me and I put my chin up with a proud 'in your face' smile.

"Logical you say?" I smile. Steve shakes his head and I laugh a victory.

"You're a cheater." He says, wrapping an arm around my shoulders as we start walking back. I laugh louder at his comment.

"No one said there were rules, but… I would have beat you anyway." I make a face. He nods to himself sarcastically and I still had my proud smile plastered to my face. We walk back onto the path and stop at the fountain. I push one of the buttons and drink the water. I drink a bit more and don't see him push the other button; making the water go right in my face. I gasp; my head shoots up and I make a face. He starts laughing. I frown.

"'Oops!" He states with a straight smile before laughing, shrugging and putting his hands up innocently.

"That's not funny!" I say, wiping water off my now drenched face.

"No, it was funny." He says. I roll my eyes and pick up a jog. He jogs up next to me, still chuckling to himself.

~0~

We walk out of the elevator, laughing when I see Agent Coulson. He turns with a small and brief smile.

"Ms. Sanders." He greets. I smile.

"Kate works." I tell him. He gives a nod.

"I need to speak with you." He says. I nod and he glances at Steve. "In private," He adds. I mouth an 'oh' and Steve gives a nod; putting a hand on my shoulder before walking over to Clint and Natasha. I follow Coulson into the elevator.

…

We walk out of the elevator and out into the lobby. We walk out and get into a SHIELD SUV outside the Tower. I close the door and turn to him.

"Ok, Kate. I didn't want to go out and say this in front of everyone just yet. And I don't know how else to do this but to just go out and say it. Y-"

"I need to go to a Foster Home?" I finish. He closes his mouth. "I knew it would happen eventually." I say; forcing a small smile. _I need to stay strong about this._ I thought.

"I found a very high rating Home. Best there is in the area." He says to me. I force another smile and nod.

"When?"

"Next week. I wanted to tell you as soon as possible." I nod.

"Do they know?" I ask. He shook his head.

"I'll tell them later tonight. Do you want to be there?" He asked. I shake my head.

"Just tell them after I call in for the night." I say. He nods.

"I'll make sure of it." He says.

"'Is that all Agent Coulson?" I ask.

"Phil, and say Kate, that is all." He gives me a smile. I smile back and get out of the car; heading back into the Tower. As I walk in my smile fades and a tear runs down my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what's going on with the end notes, they are still getting scrambled up from time to time so I'll look into that.


	10. Place I Used To Call Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter!!

I warily open my eyes the next morning and look out my window. It was cloudy today. I groan and roll out of bed; taking my clothes to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, I walk out of the elevator and up to Steve. He smiles; I give a very small smile and we walk out the door. He stares ahead; then starts to glance at me.

"... Something wrong?" He asked. I shake my head.

"I'm just tired." I say. He nods.

"Were you out saving someone again?" He smirks. I shake my head.

"No, actually. I just feel more tired than normal." I say; then yawn. He hesitates, and then nods. We walk through the park entrance and pick up a jog. I stare at the ground for a while. I don't see him looking at me.

"You know- you can tell my anything right?" He says. "If there's anything bothering you," I look up and force a smile.

"Yeah, I know." I say. He gives me a concerned look before giving a nod.

"Ok, then." He says; looking ahead. We jog in silence for a few minutes; jogging around some trees. "I was thinking we could go an extra lap starting next week." He says. I smirk.

"Did you forget already?" I say. He raised an eyebrow. "Remember? I'll be gone by next week." I say. He comes to a dead stop; I slow down; turning.

"What?" He asked, confusion quickly spreading across his face. "What do you mean you'll be gone?" I raise an eyebrow.

"…Didn't Coulson tell you?" I ask. He shook his head.

"No he didn't tell me anything, why are you not gonna be here?" He asked, suddenly looking a little concerned. "Is Fury trying to send you to the Sandbox?" He questioned.

"No," I say quickly and shake my head. I chew my bottom lip before responding. "I'm going to the Foster Home, Coulson's taking me next week. He said he was gonna tell you." I say. From there I couldn't tell his expression; in fact I don't even know if he was taking that in yet. I raise an eyebrow. "Uh, you ok?" I wave my hand in front of his face. He blinks and nods.

"Yeah, yeah… I just…." He trails off before looking down, furrowing his eyebrows slightly. I glance around.

"Wanna keep going?" I ask. He nods. We pick back up our jog. They rest of the way was silent.

~0~

I was in my room now. After we got back Steve kinda told everyone and Natasha and Clint had at Coulson for not telling them first. I could literally hear them through the vents. I didn't think they would take it that hard, I mean…. They must have tons of messed up people coming here… right?

I continue to sketch out my horse drawing while I listen to bits and pieces of the conversation. _I wonder who I will meet there. I hope I make some friends._ I thought. I look at my phone. It was only 10am. I sigh; looking out my window.

…

"Why didn't you tell us before you told her?!" Pepper yells. Coulson was quiet through all the yelling's her got from everyone.

"Did we really have to wait til she told one of us you were getting rid of her?" Clint says.

"Fury knew you would react this way so he wanted to keep it quiet." Coulson explains. They all exchange glances.

"So you weren't going to tell us, **again?!"** Natasha says. Coulson doesn't respond as he looks at her with an eyebrow raised. Surprise at Natasha's aggressiveness towards Fury's decision about Kate's departure from the Tower.

"Is she in her room?" Coulson asks.

"Yeah." Steve speaks up, not looking at the Agent and mostly staring at the floor in thought. Coulson nods in reply and was quiet briefly.

"I'll come pick her up Monday." He says; standing up. They don't respond as he heads for the elevator.

…

I walk out of the elevator and into the gym. I walk over to the punching bags; putting my water on the bench I walk over to the bag in the corner. I start throwing a few punches. Several minutes went by before my punches started to get harder and I bit my lip.

"Nice technique." My fist hits the bag and I stop. I turn; looking at Steve; who I didn't hear come in.

"Thanks… my brother showed me." I say; I clench my jaw; looking back at the bag, thinking about him.

"So he taught you to fight?"

"Yeah, when he was home anyway." I say. He gives me a questioning look.

"He was in the Army." I tell him. He nods; I see his expression brighten a bit with the mention of Army.

"What's his name?" I blink back tears, taking in a shaky breath.

"James." I say. Steve nodded, and then sees the expression on my face. I could see it in his eyes; he could tell by my face that he was gone.

"Is there any chance he's-"

"No." I say rather sharply, not that I meant to. He swallows and was quiet for a few moments.

"Sorry"

"Its fine, its just-… he's been d-"I take in a shaky breath. "He's been... dead for a few years now. He was killed in action overseas." I say. I look away for a minute; blinking away tears. "He had promised me he would take me to where he was based for my last birthday. I wanted to see it so bad." I couldn't look at him as I talked. The last birthday that I celebrated was my fourteenth, although I'm fifteen now. I was still being held hostage during that time. James wasn't able to make it to my 14th so once he got back he told me he'd bring me to his base.

I take a deep shaky breath and bite my lip. I could barely hold it together. "He…" I cough out a sob. "He would have kept his promise." I start coughing out sobs and he starts to walk over. I honestly don't freakin care anymore. I wrap my arms around his waist and start bawling tears into his shoulder. He just hugs me back.

I had lost everything. My mom, my dad, my brother…. I had no one. No one left. And I was about to leave the only people left that I cared about. I honestly don't know how long I've been standing here. He eventually said something to me that involved heading for the elevator. We made it there and just kinda went down to the lobby and out the door. For a while we just walked. He had an arm around my shoulder the whole time and we just kinda talked about the better parts of it. The good memories I had of him.

At some point he asked me if I was hungry… I told him I wanted ice cream. Not that I was in the mood but surprisingly it made me feel better. We sat in that little ice cream shop for hours. He let me talk about whatever I was comfortable with.

I told him about when my brother first enlisted and how when he got accepted that my parents found it in the mail and were furious when he got home from school. (He was a senior at the time and I was in 6th grade) I also told him about how he would "train" me. He taught me how to throw a punch when I was 11. As I got older and he grew in the ranks he taught me a lot more. Battle tactics, modern warfare stuff, types of ammunitions used… Pretty much everything he leaned that wasn't classified… ok-, well… maybe he slipped a little on the classification.

I had always told my brother that I wanted to be just like him someday. He never doubted that I would be.

Around 5pm we had started heading back to the Tower. I was a quiet dinner. Natasha and Clint had a mission they left for that afternoon. Bruce and Tony had taken their food to the lab to eat. It was just Steve, Pepper, and I.

After I had eaten I called in early. I could tell by Pepper's face that she was worried. Thankfully after I went into the elevator I heard Steve start to explain.

Once I fell onto my bed comforter I didn't realize how tired I was. I wanted to cry more; just put all the pain I suffered in the last year into tears. But I couldn't. There weren't any tears left. I did eventually drift off; not bothering to get myself dressed or under the covers. I curled up; making myself as small as possible and closed my eyes.

~0~

**The next week….**

I carried my duffle bag out to the curb. Today was the day. I was leaving the Tower to get on with my life… or- whatever life I had left. Sam was going with me to get dropped off. Coulson was waiting by the car.

I turn to everyone. Pepper was red in the face and her eyes rimmed with some barely visible tears. I smirk. She pulls me into a tight hug.

"Thank you for everything Kate." I smile; pulling out of the hug.

"I should be thanking you Pepper. After all, I wouldn't be here if you hadn't said something." I say. She nods, with a smile. Tony shakes my hand.

"Good luck kid." I smirk; giving a nod. He walks back over to Pepper. _Tough love._ I say in my head with a smirk. Bruce shakes my hand.

"Good luck Kate. It was a pleasure getting to know you." Bruce says. I smile.

"Same goes to you." I say. He gives a nod. I walk over to Clint and Natasha. Clint grins and pulls me into a hug.

"Promise to get into trouble for me there ok?" I give him a smile.

"You bet!" I fist bump him. I turn; hugging Natasha.

"Don't forget to make some friends too." She says to me. I smile.

"Don't worry I won't." She smiles and I walk over to Steve who was standing on her left. I smile and he pulls me into a hug.

"You be careful." He says in a playfully tone. I roll my eyes.

"I'm not that reckless." I say with a smirk.

"Good luck." I give a nod, then turn; walking toward the car. Coulson gives me a nod.

I get in and Sam gets in the other side. Closing my door; I put my window down; waving the them as we drive away.

~0~

We pull up in front of the foster home. I gulp. Sam looks at me and smiles.

"Don't worry. I'll come see you as often as I can." She says, putting an arm on my shoulder. I nod and get out. It looked like a prison. There was a fence and a tall building.

"It was the most highly rated home, Kate. So don't worry." Coulson says, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. I smirk. We walk toward the building. A woman with red hair came up to us.

"Welcome! I'm Ms. Williams. You must be Phil." She shakes his hand. She turns to me and smiled. "And you must be Kate!" She says cheerfully. I give a very small smile. This lady scares me. She's creepy… like a serial killer! I shake my head and furrow my eyebrows at my own thoughts. I look at Coulson, he gives a nod. I get my things and close the trunk. He gives me one last nod before getting in the car. I watch him drive away. Sam walked me in before leaving.

...

I walk into a room. Ms. Williams follows. I see three other girls there. A girl with dirty blonde hair looked up and smiled. There was a girl with black hair; with a red streak and a girl with auburn hair.

I look around the room. There were four beds counting one for me. The girl with dirty blonde hair had a girly set up. She had posters and make up stuff on a little night stand next to the bed. Pink was the main color.

The girl with black hair had a gothic looking set up. Dark, mysterious posters were on the walls and black sheets on the bed.

The girl with auburn hair had a nice little set up. There were skateboarding posters on the wall and one picture on a nightstand of two people; portably a couple. I look around the room. It wasn't half bad. There was a window by each bed and the spare bed had a window seat.

_I hope that's my bed._ I thought. Ms. Williams walks in front of me.

"Come here girls. We have a new member!" She says cheerfully. I roll my eyes. The auburn girl gets up first and comes over, the other two follow.

"This is Kate everyone." She introduces me. I give a small smile and a wave. They wave back to me.

"Well, go on! Introduce yourselves!" MS Williams laughed.

"My name is Scarlett." The auburn girl says. I smile, she holds out her hand and I shake it. The dirty blonde girl walks up.

"Hi, my name is Ashley." She says with a smile; I shake her hand. The girl with black hair walks up.

"Sup, I'm Jade." She says, I fist bump her. She smirks and sits on her bed. Ms. Williams looks at all of us and nods.

"Aright..." She turns to me. "The girls will tell you what you need to know, and you have a drawl to put your clothes in." She smiles; then leaves the room. I turn back to the girls. Scarlett smiles and points to the spare bed.

"Well, here's your bed." She walks over and I follow. "We get new stuff in every other week so over time you can decorate you space how you like." She says. I nod. I swallow.

"How's it food wise?" I ask. She shrugs.

"It's alright,... For a foster home anyway." Jade says, mumbling the last part. I smirk.

"So, Kate. What are some of your hobbies?" Ashley asked. I shrug.

"I can fight...uh; I can do a little bit of archery. I shoot, sketch, I skateboard..." I count them on my fingers. Scarlett raises an eyebrow.

"You skateboard?" She asked. I nod.

"I haven't in a while, but I do too." She smiles at me.

"Sweet, so do I!" She fist bumps me and I chuckle.

"So what's your story." Jade asked. I sat on my bed. I hesitate.

"I was kidnapped and held hostage for 8 months. My parents were killed shortly after I was found." I say. They look at me.

"Wow, haven't heard that one before." Ashley says. I shrug.

"Yeah, and it gets better. The government found me and I was living in a billionaire's tower for like two months." I say. Their mouths drop.

"Are you fudging serious?" Scarlett said. I nod.

"And don't even mention little orphan Annie. I am not like that at ALL." I make clear. We all laughed.

"That's crazy dude!" Jade says. I nod in agreement.

"That must have been nice." Ashley says. I hesitate before shrugging.

"It wasn't ordinary, I'll give it that." We sit in silence for a minute. Scarlett claps her hands together.

"Well, why don't you unpack?" I nod and put my duffle bag on the bed. The girls went back to doing what they were doing.

I start looking through my bag. I take out all my outfits as put them on the bed; folded nicely. I take out a few other things, including my skate board at the bottom of the bag, and my sketch book. Something catches my eye. I furrow my eyebrows and look in my bag. There was some kind of book. I pick it up and look at it. It had a black leather cover; no wording. I open it and a note falls out. I pick it up and read it.

_Dear Kate,_

_You have no idea how thankful I am for everything you have done for us. I know you will do get things some day and you will go far. Best wishes._

_Pepper_

I smile and put the note on the bed. I open to the next page and a small gasp escapes my mouth.

It was a photo album. I look at all the pictures. It surprised me how she managed to get some of these. There was two pages of pics of me and Natasha, some of us talking, and some of me sparring with Natasha, I look at all the pictures. I was on the ground in most of them. I smile and go to the next page.

The next two pages had pictures of me and Clint. There was a few of him teaching me bow tips, and a few of us sparring. The second page was made up of me and Clint playing pranks. I grin and look at them. There was one of Steve covered in feathers and me and Clint falling off the couch laughing. And another of the lab after we covered it in toilet paper, the time when Tony almost killed us.

I chuckled at the memories. I turn the page and see the ones of me and Steve. There were some of us jogging. I furrowed my eyebrows at those. The only other person that jogged with us once was...Sam! I laugh to myself. _That Traitor._ I thought. There were a few of us using the punching bags and also some of us just sitting on the couch, talking. Then there was two of us smiling at the camera, then another, when I threw a pie at his face, then another when he threw a pie at my face. Next thing we knew the kitchen was covered in pie. Sam was trying to protect her phone during the whole thing. I guess she took more than that one picture.

That was fun to explain to Pepper when she got home. He face was priceless. I smile at the memories.

The next two pages contained pics of me in the lab with Tony and Bruce. There was one where I was sitting on the counter and Tony was testing a suit and it malfunctioned, he was flying around the lab; trying to get it under control. I was laughing in the picture.

There was also one where I had been messing with Bruce's stuff and set off a little explosion. Bruce was in the back ground looking shocked and I was smiling; ash and substance covered my face and clothes. I chuckled at the memories.

The last few pictures included lots of pics of everyone. They're ones of me and Pepper, some of me and Sam and me with the others.

I turn the page to the last picture and see a picture of all of us together. I remember when we took that picture. I smile and close it up. Putting it in the drawl of my nightstand, I put all of my clothes into my drawl and walk over to the window seat. I sit down.

"Nice view right?" Scarlett says. I nod; my mouth open. It was so cool. I look at all the buildings. I smile comes on my face when I see Stark Tower. I see my phone beep and turn it over.

_Pepper: We miss you already. :(_

I chuckle, typing a reply.

_Miss you guys too._

I turn off my phone. I look back out my window. I watch as the clouds start to cover the sun. The light slowly climbed the side of the tower til the light was gone. I adjust myself on the cushion; my gaze lost on the place I use to call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one will be posted on April 18th (Monday)  
> Please leave a comment or Kudos!! :)


	11. Moving On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's your next chapter :) Hope you enjoy, and thank you mishmish44 for the Kudos! :D

_Beep beep beep beep_

"Jarvis, turn it off." I groan. I open my eyes to slits, and then close them.

_Beep beep beep beep_

"Jarvis!" I groan. I open my eyes all the way. I could see Stark Tower. I sit up, a bit concerned. I sigh. The thoughts started coming back to me. I was in the foster home. I let out a breath and look around; seeing Ashley, Scarlett, ad Jade still fast asleep.

I had fallen asleep in the window seat. My knees were tucked under me and I had a patched up blanket over me; my open sketch in my lap. I get up, putting the sketch book down and stretch. Turning off my alarm clock I yawn and stretch again. I quietly open my drawl and pull out my shorts and tank top before tiptoeing to the bathroom.

...

A few minutes later I get my sneakers from my bed side and walk toward the door. I walk down the stairs and toward the door.

_Maybe I would see Steve today on my run._ I thought. _If I couldn't see them all the time maybe they could run in mornings so I could see them._ I thought, my hopes brightening. I pass the office and see a woman with white hair sitting there.

"Oh- uh, Miss?" She calls. I stop and turn. "You cannot leave yet. It's 5am." She says. I gulp.

"We'll, I was just going to run." I explain.

"I'm sorry; you must wait til 10am for our exercise program and be assigned to a group." She says; then goes back to her work. I let out a disappointed breath; walking back toward the room.

...

I walk back up; talking off my sneakers and sitting back in the window seat. _So much for that._ I thought. _Who was I kidding in the first place? I couldn't expect them to drop everything to come see me. Some girl they found in a ware house with some stupid ability. They have way more important matters to attend to._ I thought.

I look down at my turned over sketch book that was open. _Did I draw something last night?_ I thought. I pick it up and slowly turn it over. I had drawn everyone. Clint, Natasha, Pepper, Tony, Steve, Bruce, Sam and even Thor, Jane, and Darcy. I realize it was a finished picture, my initials at the bottom.

I smile; closing the book and sliding it under the window seat cushion I was sitting on. I look out the window; seeing Stark Tower in the distance, thinking of what they were probably doing right now.

Clint and Natasha were probably sparring or on missions. Steve was on his run right about now, Tony and Bruce would be in the lab, and Pepper would be at work.

I hear movement behind me and turn. Scarlett shifts in her bed, making a face as the sunlight hits her eyelids. I give a small smile; watching her turn over, facing the other way.

 

~0~

 

A few hours later, I hear someone yawn. I look over; seeing Ashley swinging her feet off the bed; stretching. She glances at me.

"Good morning." She yawns. I smile.

"Morning." She stretches again, and then stands up.

"How long have you been up?" She asked; rubbing her eyes. I shrug.

"Few hours." I say. She nods; glancing at her alarm clock and raised an eyebrow.

"It's 8:30." She says. I nod. "How many hours?" She asked. I chuckle and shrug.

"I don't know, maybe 3 or so." I say; looking back out my window.

"Geash, early morning person." She mumbles. I smirk, eyeing the cars going by in front if the foster home.

 

~0~

 

After everyone woke up, we all headed to the eating area. I just followed everyone down and sat with them. They're at least 50 other people here. I had grabbed a tray in the tray line. It had a bowl of cereal, Cheerios to be exact. I smile. I love Cheerios. They had always been my favorite. I poured the carton of milk into the Styrofoam bowl and mixed it with my spoon.

"So, Kate," Jade starts. I look up; taking a bite if cereal.

"Who were you living with before?" I stop chewing, and swallow. I glance at her before looking down.

"I don't know." I say. She looked at my before chuckling.

"What do you mean? How could you not know?" She says in a tone that was setting me off a bit.

"I told you, it was the government. They wouldn't tell me anything." I say, mixing my cereal. Scarlett nudges Jade, seeing I wasn't comfortable with this topic.

"Well, there's a batch of new stuff coming in today, why don't me and you go have a look around?" She says. I just nod, my thoughts lost in my head.

 

~0~

 

Clint walks out of the elevator and into the lobby; seeing Steve sitting in a chair. He walks over slowly and gives the soldier a questioning look.

"…What you waiting for?" He speaks up slowly. Steve looks up at him and smirks a little before he opens his mouth to speak.

"I’m waiting for Ka-" He almost immediately stops himself from finishing; his smirk fading as he slowly looks at the ground. Clint nods after a moment, now seeing Steve just stare at the ground like he was scolding himself in his head.

"Had that moment last night." He says quieter. Steve stands up and heads for the door.

"See you later tonight." His tone was lower and more order-like and Clint just nods; watching him walk out the door and then pick up a job.

…

It was minutes later that Steve jogged around the lake and passed a few trees. Despite how fast he could go; the jog that was slow to him and that he did with Kate was what he was comfortable with now.

He jogged around a few more trees and slowed down at a bench. Sitting down he takes out a water bottle, drinking a good half of it before lowering it. He looks up briefly and breathes out before looking around the park.

 

~0~

 

After breakfast, Jade and Ashely went back to our room and Scarlett insisted I go with her to this thing.

"It's in this room." She says, pushing one of the double doors. We walk in and I saw what looked like a mini store.

" _This is it?_ " I thought, and then realized I said it aloud.

"Yep, you can take anything here if you have enough points." She says. I raise an eyebrow.

"Points?"

"Yeah, you earn points for stuff you do around here. Helping out with all sorts of stuff. I'll show you some but for now you can use my points. I got enough to share." She says; shouldering me. I smile as we start looking around.

She goes over to the clothes while I look in some of the bins in the corner of the room. I shift through one bin; seeing toys of all sorts, posters, picture frames, coloring books, etc.

I pick up a few things, moving them around and see a rolled up poster. I raise an eyebrow and pick it up. Unraveling it; I smirk when I see it is an Avengers poster. I hear footsteps behind me and keep my eyes on the poster.

"You a fan?" Scarlett said after a few seconds. I breathe a laugh.

"Something like that." Scarlett smiles, and then holds out a shirt. She holds it up to her. "What do ya think?" She asked. I put a hand to my chin; narrowing my eyes.

It was a white shirt that said 'Gaming Goddess. You may bow before me'

I smirk. "Yeah, I think it's defiantly you." I say. She smiles; putting it over her arm.

"Hey, you should get this." She says holding a shirt up to me. I glance down at it.

"No, I really don't need anything-"

"You have to get something on your first day!-, just, find something, anything!" She says with a smile. I sigh and nod, continuing to look through the boxes of stuff.

...

A while later I found a small framed picture. It was a picture of soldiers overseas and it said: "if you can't support out troops, feel free to stand in front of them."

My brother had the same picture but in poster form in his room. It was his favorite quote. Scarlett had gotten a few tops and found an old Nintendo DS with a Mario cart game. We were now heading back to our room.

We walk in the door; I close it behind us as Jade and Ashley look up from what they were doing. Jade was tuning her electric guitar that she had gotten and Ashley was painting her nails; sitting on her bed.

"What'd ya get?" Ashley got up; waving her hands to dry out her nails. I shrugged, Scarlett held up her shirts and DS. "That's cool." She says. She looks at me. "How bout you?" I shrug.

"Just a picture." I say. She nods after a few seconds. I walk over; putting it on my nightstand.

"So Emily came by today again with her friends." Jade says.

"Ugh, god. What'd she do and or say this time?" Scarlett sits on her bed.

"Nothing much, but I could hear her. She wrote losers on our door when you were gone. I cleaned it up." Ashley says. I raised an eyebrow.

"Who?" I ask. They look at me.

"Oh! That's right you have no idea what we're talking about." Scarlett walks over a sits on my bed with me. "Ok, so Emily Johnson is like Jade on steroids." She starts. I lean back with a questioning look.

"Hey!" Jade says. Scarlett looks at her.

"I'm just saying she has the whole Goth look but takes it to the next level." She says. Jade sends her a glare; then draws her attention back to her guitar. I nod.

"So why did they vandalize our door?" I ask. She shrugs.

"Don't know. They're messed up." She mumbles the last part. I chuckle.

 

~0~

 

The day was pretty boring. Scarlett said there was a field trip tomorrow though. The schooling program here was weird. If you were 15-17 then you didn't necessarily have to take park in the education program but you could go on their field trips around the city to learn stuff.

After getting into my tank top and sweat pants I crawled into my bed. So this is what life's gonna be like. Every. Day. I roll over in bed and star at the picture I got. I wish I could have lived at the tower. But I know I would be a burden on them. Plus there superheroes and can't stick around the look after me. Pepper's busy enough without a kid in the house.

_At least I got to know them._ I thought. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.

 

~0~

 

**Later that night…**

Pepper walks out of the elevator and onto the communal floor and over to the counter. Natasha was sitting on the couch and looks up seeing her walk out. She stands before walking over.

"Rough day?" She says; sitting on the stool. Pepper sighs; putting her hand through her hair.

"I guess you could say that." She says. Natasha gives a small smile.

"Seems like that's the case with everyone at the moment." Natasha states a bit quieter. Pepper just nods; walking over to the fridge.

“Where is everyone?” Pepper asks as she opened the door.

“Clint is on the carrier, but he should be back soon. Tony and Bruce are working on some new tech in the lab, and Steve is taking out his frustrations on the punching bags in the gym,” She informs and Pepper sighs slightly before looking over at Natasha.

“He’s taking it harder than I thought he would,” She says quietly. Natasha shrugs a nod.

“He had a soft spot for the kid,” Natasha says in agreement.

“We all did,” She sighs and sifts through the fridge. “I gotta get started on dinner,” She says before sifting further. "Oh- we have leftover pizza." Pepper says, smiling. She pulls out a Hawaiian pizza, and then stops, and her smile goes away slightly. "I guess I'll just make some pasta." She says before placing the pizza back in the fridge. It was Kate's favorite pizza. Everyone would tease her about it since she was the only on in the Tower who liked it.

Natasha gave her a small, yet saddened smile.

 

~0~

 

Everyone had sat down at the dining room table an hour or so later. They exchanged glances.

"So, uh. How was everyone's day?" Pepper speaks up.

"Mine was fine." Clint says; wiping his mouth with a napkin. Everyone was quiet.

"Fury wants us for a mission tomorrow by the way." Natasha says; looking to Clint and Steve. They nod.

"Where is it this time." Steve says in a somewhat low tone, and Tony and Bruce glance at him questionably.

"Don't know." Natasha says. "Oh, and Thor is coming next week with Jane and Darcy." Then nod.

“Do they know?” Clint asks, looking to her. Natasha takes a bite of her salad before looking at him.

“Do they know about what?”

“Kate being gone,” He continues slowly and everyone paused for a moment, Steve making a somewhat abrupt stop from taking a bite from the pasta off his fork and almost sent a glare at Clint for bringing that up.

“No they don’t, I’ll let them know though,” She says before taking another bite of her salad. Everyone got quiet soon after and few words were exchanged for the rest of dinner.

 

~0~

 

**Five hours later…**

It had been a while since everyone had sat down to dinner, and now almost everyone was either calling in for the night or going back down to the labs. But Steve wasn’t one of those people and found himself back in the gym for several hours, beating every punching bag he could get his hands on.

“Steve,” Pepper called as she walked into the room, seeing the soldier to the left side of the room. He didn’t even hear her as he was beating the current bag to a pulp. “Steve,” She calls a bit louder and more firmly, but gets no reply.

Pepper huffs started to walk over and wasn’t ready when there was a thickening smack and a bang as the bag flew from its chain and slammed against the opposite wall and Pepper’s small cry in surprise caused Steve to tense and turn. He was quiet briefly and didn’t look apologetic at all.

“I thought I was alone,” He says while breathing heavy, his chest heaving. Pepper had a stern face as she eyed the bag and then him.

“I called your name twice,” She states, holding a small book in her arms against her stomach.

“Sorry,” He says, and then sees her look over to the ton of sand pouring out of several bags on the opposite side of the gym. Steve swallows slowly and then looks behind him at the destroyed bags before looking back at her.

“I trust you’ll be cleaning that up later,” She says and he nods quickly.

“Yes ma’am,” He mumbles before walking a few feet to his right and picks up another bag before placing it on the chain with a click.

“How many times do I need to tell you Steve? It’s Pepper, not ma’am, only my coworkers say ma’am. And some don’t even say that,” She mumbles that part at the end before taking a few steps closer and holds out a book. Steve only glances at her and then it before going back to punching the bag.

“This is for you,” She states firmly when he doesn’t look back twice. He punches the bag several times before stopping for a moment to face her again.

“What is it” He states, not sure if he wants anything to do with what she was currently holding.

“Just take it,” She says and holds it out. Steve was about 15 feet away and looks back at the bag, steading it with both hands before turning to her. It takes a few seconds before he starts walking towards her, sweaty and chest heaving from working so hard he takes the book she was holding and looks at it for several seconds before looking back up at her almost questionably.

He slowly rubs his fingers across the black leather book, his hands still covered in the worn out wraps from punching before he somewhat hastily opened the cover and then came to a stop when he saw the first page. His expression didn’t change for the longest time before he looked up at Pepper.

“What is this,” He states somewhat firmly and Pepper didn’t look at all fazed by his attitude.

“Kate got one too, but I figured you’d like to have something as well” She says with a small smile. Steve looked at her for a few seconds before slowly looking down at what he now knew was a photo album. He looked over a few of the pictures, the memories slowly starting to play back into his head and his firm face started to soften as the seconds pasted.

Pictures of them running, watching movies, having that pie fight several weeks before. Pictures from many different occasions covered the pages, along with Kate with the others.

He just nods to himself, bringing back a more professional expression as he looked back up at her with a nod. Pepper didn’t look at all convinced by the act and let out a sigh.

“You’re allowed to miss her you know,” She finally states. Steve was now keeping his eyes on a page to avoid her gaze. “We all do Steve,” She says. The soldier was quiet for almost a minute as he continued to look through the photos and he clenched his jaw slightly.

“There’s more than just her leaving bothering you, am I right?” She asks slowly. He didn’t look up at her, or technically down at her but he still wouldn’t bring his eyes to hers.

“I just-…” He doesn’t finish was he was going to say for a moment before breathing out sharply. “We kept her here for months and then- just dump her off with strangers after we get the information we need from her” He states and finally looks at her. Pepper just nods, looking down for a moment. “How is she ever going to find a family that will take her how she is, I mean- I don’t like saying it but she isn’t exactly normal” He mumbles. “Finding someone who’d care about her for who she is-…” He was quiet for a moment. “

“I know it’s hard to think about, but she’s strong. She’ll pull through,” Pepper says, giving him a small smile before turning.

“What if they don’t treat her fairly? And they find out about her ability?” He asks somewhat worriedly. Pepper gives him a small and almost pitied smile at his nervousness.

“Steve, I’m sure that they will treat Kate fine,” Pepper says assumingly. Steve didn’t look at all convinced but just gave a little nod. The thought still dwelled on him of the possibility of Kate being treated differently because of her ability. And not to mention his worry of her ever being treated poorly or bullied, knowing how he grew up because he was a bit different; being sick all the time. “Would it ease your conscious if I called to ask how she’s doing?” Pepper asks with a chuckle. He looked at her almost hopefully but quickly clears his throat and takes a more so professional reactions and nods slightly.

“If it isn’t a problem,” He says and clears his throat. “You know just to make sure she’s adjusting right” He adds and nods slightly to himself before looking down at the book in his hands. Pepper smiles to herself and nods.

“I’ll call in the morning,” She says with a smile before turning and headed for the door. Steve was still looking down at the book when he quickly looked up and after Pepper.

“Pepper,” He called quickly, and she stopped and turned. “Thank you,” He says with a grateful smile, but still somewhat down.

“You’re welcome,” She says with a smile before turning back as she headed for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be posted April 22nd (Friday)  
> Please comment or leave kudos! XD


	12. Catching Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's the next chapter! Sorry I was a few minutes later on updating April 22, it's technically April 23 for me right now... Sorry! Hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!

**One month later...**

Sometime has gone by. I'm not keeping track at all really. It had been getting easier at the Home. I mean, I have a part time job in the Home. Leave it to me to pick out the most boring job here. Ugh. Hey, the paper said security! I didn't think it meant watching the little kids go up and down stairs! What kinda heartless person would trick people into this!?... Ok, I know I'm zoning out right now.

"Here is the shoe room. It holds hundreds of pairs of shoes of the Jewish men, women, and children during the holocaust." I hear the tour lady say. Yeah so this is the third field trip I've been on. Turns out; the field trip was to DC. That was a boring 7 hour drive.

She continues to talk about the clothing and stuff during the holocaust. I'm not really listening. I kinda know all of this by heart anyway. Growing up with someone in the Military made this stuff second nature to me. WWII was my brother's favorite war, and then he kinda passed that on to me. Every school project I did was about WWII. My teachers would get so frustrated with me, especially my English teacher. She hated talking about war and stuff; she was kinda like a hippie. She wore lots of peace signs and stuff. In my opinion she was just plain weird.

We continue to walk through. I look around me; this was a really cool museum. I had been here once when I was little, I don't remember much from that trip though. I look past a few people; and then see a plaque on the wall slightly behind me; probably for soldiers killed in action. I loved looking at those. My brother and I would always look for them as try to see if we could find any of our relatives. Our family had tons of soldiers dating back to like the 1800's. But most of them fought in WWII. I slowly start to back up casually. Of course I'm stupid enough that I ran right into someone, seeing a book go flying across the floor.

"Crap, I-I'm so sorry." I say; we both go down to pick up the book.

"Don't worry. Its fine-" I froze. That voice was so familiar it's scary. I look up and see Steve. My mouth drops. His eyebrows shoot up. Oh. My. God.

"Wha-" I don't even know what to say right now. Why was he here? - wait, scratch that, why am I being stupid and not saying anything.

"… Kate?" He says slowly in disbelief. I close my mouth and swallow.

"S-Steve?!" I almost shout. We stand up straight and I hand him the book. "Uh-, he-, ugh...hi!" I'm stuttering like an idiot right now. He smiles.

"Hey, uh. How've been? Are you ok?" I shrug, holding back the urge to jump at him for a hug. God, I just realized how much I missed them all. It's been over a month and I almost forgot about the missing them part.

"Oh, uh… Fine. It’s fine. The home's not as bad as I thought it'd be,” I say and look down briefly. I see him lower his head a bit to get a better look at my face and I quickly look up, hiding my downed look. “What about you?"

"It's good.-"

"Kate, were heading out!" Our chaperon lady calls. Oh great. I sigh. I hold up a hand to her; telling her to give me a minute.

I don't want leave now. Ugh. Ooh! - wait! Idea! Ding ding ding!

"Hey… um, what you doing later?" I ask. He draws his attention back to me.

"Uh, nothing… why," He says with a bit of concern and slowly furrowed his eyebrows, looking at me questionably.

“Weeeellll… I was kinda wondering if there’s the slightest chance that-“

“Am I going to approve of this?” He chuckles a bit, still looking a little concerned. I bit my bottom lip and chewed on it for a moment.

“Depends on how you look at it,” I say quieter and a saddened look crossed my face. I saw a somewhat pitied look cross his face and I immediately cleared my throat, hiding my look before he started noticing too much. "… Maybe we could get a run in tonight? I'm so desperate for a run it's not even funny." I tell him. He raised an eyebrow.

"You're talking about sneaking out?" He says; I hear a bit more concern in his voice. I swallow, seeing the doubtful look on his face and I quickly shake my head before taking a step or two back.

“N-No, I uh- never mind, I was kidding” I say quickly and start backing up.

“Kate-“ He starts quickly and I quickly turn before speed walking into the crowd.

I just blurted that out. I didn’t really think it through. They probably deal with kids like this all the time, why did I think I would be any different or more important.

I shake my head at my own stupidity for a moment and huff. _That was smooth Kate_. I thought to myself.

“Kate hold on a second!” I quickly turn and Steve quickly stopped near me before looking around and then down at me.

“Sorry, that was stupid I wasn’t thinki-” I say quickly but he cut me off.

“You didn’t even let me answer,” He says with a small reassuring smile. I look at him for a moment with my mouth open.

“Wha-“

“Normally I would be all for going on a run, but there are a few variables you can’t blame me for worrying about” He continues before glancing around briefly. I swallow and give a little nod. “You are taking about sneaking out correct?” He asks. I look up at him and open my mouth when I hesitated. He slowly started to smile when I hesitated some more before finally closing my mouth and nodded.

“I was just curious about what’s been happening, you know… Around the tower and stuff. Y-You don’t have to, I know it’s classified and-“

“I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” He sighs before gripping his book in his other hand. “If you still wanna that is,” Steve says to me. I blink for a moment before swallowing.

“So… You’re saying it’s ok?” I ask slowly and with some excitement I couldn’t hide. He slowly smiles before giving a little nod. “Yes!” I whisper.

"But if you get caught I can't do anything about it." He makes clear. I nod quickly. Thank the Lord! I run up; giving him a quick hug; then jogging to catch up with my group. I give him a small wave. He waves back as I walk up behind Scarlett, Jade, and Ashely. Scarlett turns; seeing me and jumps.

"Jesus Christ! Kate!-" she slaps my arm. Priceless. I start laughing.

"Come on, you could have heard me coming." I argue.

"Where did you go?!" She says, looking around. I shrug.

"Over to a different exhibit." I say. She narrows her eyes, and then nods.

"Oookkk." She says drawing the word out. We walk past a few other exhibits, heading to the air and space.

 

~0~

**Later that night…**

I open my eyes to slits. Ok, there all asleep. I slowly pull my covers back; swinging my feet over the bed. I feel the cold wood floor under my feet as I touch down.

_Creeeeaaakkk…_

Shoot! Stupid floor! I sigh, taking small quick steps to my drawer. I grab a pair of socks, sitting back down on my bed to put them on. If he forgot, I swear I will walk to the Tower tonight. I pull on my shoes and tiptoe to my window. There was a fire escape. I kneel down onto the cushion and unlock it. I take a deep breath. This better not be loud.

I pull on it slightly. Nothing. I pull a bit harder and it flies open and hits the top.

_Bang!_

"Shit!" I quickly crawl out and jump onto the fire escape; slamming the window down. I press my back the wall; leaning down so no one could see me.

"Wha-!?" I hear someone say. I put a hand up to my face. Crap. I kneel down as far as I can. I hear footsteps coming toward the window. I look up; seeing Ashley. She yawns; looking out the window. I gulp. I see her shrug and disappear from view. I let out a breath.

Thank. God.

I look around the ground. No one. I begin to crawl down the fire escape toward the ground.

 

~0~

 

It was dark and cold. I knew he would forget! God damn it. I continue to walk around the park; my hands in the pockets of my jacket. I was wearing my boot cut jeans with sneakers and a T-shirt. If I get mugged Steve I'm so blaming you. I keep walking along the path.

Suddenly I hear rapped footsteps coming up behind me. My breath gets caught in my throat. Well shit, I'm gonna get mugged. Then Steve runs up beside me. Oh. I let out a breath.

“Wow… Ok,” I breathe for a second, getting control of my rapidly beating heart. “I thought I was about to get mugged,”

“I’m sorry,” He chuckled. “I had to help Clint with something so I couldn’t just walk out,”

“Why do I feel like whatever you were helping him with couldn’t have been good,” I smile to myself and he laughs. It was quiet for several seconds before he looks around and I swallow before looking up at him.

“So… jog?” I ask slowly. He smiles and nods, picking up a jog and I jump into one before coming up beside him. "How are things at the Tower?" I ask. He shrugs.

"Ok… It's quieter." He says. I nod. You think that'd be a good thing but by the look on his face right now I don't think so.

"How um… How is everyone?" I ask slowly. He swallows and looks down for a moment then shrugs.

"There good. Natasha and Clint got back from a mission recently and Pepper actually just left for a business trip." I nod. "So how have you been?" He says, looking down at me. I glance at him quickly before giving a quick shrug. Please don't ask that, my life is pretty boring.

"Good, I've made some friends… They’re fun,” I give a brief smile. He looks at me for a moment before looking at the ground as we keep jogging.

“So you can’t go out to jog?”

“Nope, they have exercise programs that do little practices in a small court down the street. It sucks, I tried it once and then that was it” I say with a shrug. “It’s alright though,” He nods after a few seconds.

“Well… At least you can sleep in,” He gives me a smirk and I fake a small smile.

“I still get up at the same time, kind of a habit now… I guess,” I say and look down again. Several minutes went by as we were jogging in silence and I didn’t see him looking at me.

“Kate are they treating you right?” He asks and I suddenly hear more concern in his voice. Quickly looking up I nod and laugh.

“Yeah, they treat me just fine”

“And they don’t know about your ability?” He asks, pressing further. He suddenly looked a lot more concerned and it confused me just a bit.

“God no,” I smirk to myself. “Don’t wanna have more people push me to the curb cause I’m different” I state somewhat sharply as we continue. It wasn’t until almost 30 seconds later that I realized what I had just said and I quickly look up at Steve, seeing a lot of guilt on his face.

“I didn’t mean it like that, I don’t blame you guys for anything” I say quickly.

“No, it’s fine Kate. You have a right to be upset about it” He says, looking down at me understandingly. “We didn’t really have the best intentions at first for keeping you there… I just wish we had gotten it right the first time,” He mumbles and I look at the sidewalk as we kept going.

“Well… You can fix it for the next time you bring a person in” I give him a smile in hopes to cheer him up cause honestly the guilty look on his face is making my stomach twist with a sickening feeling that he’s beating himself up about this.

He looks at me for a moment, almost confusingly but then smiles and nods.

“Yeah… Next time,”

 

~0~

 

We walk up to the Home. I asked if he'd walk back with me. I don't wanna get mugged ok!? He gave me a run down of almost everything that had been going on. Not that I asked for it, but it was nice to hear everyone was doing god.

I turn back to him.

"Thanks for coming out here and everything." I give him a hug. “It wasn’t really my business so, yeah. Thanks for letting me know how everyone is,” I smile as I was hugging him.

"No problem. I had fun, good thing I decided to make a DC trip today." He says. I smile; pulling out of the hug. I take a few steps back when my eyes darted to the side and I looked down the sidewalk heading towards the main part of the city. I eyed it a bit longer when the thought hit me. I was outside the home. I could literally shift and make a run for it if I wanted.

“Kate,” I quickly look back and swallow, seeing Steve eyeing me with another concerned look, almost worried.

“Fine- all fine, it’s all cool” I ramble slightly before glancing back at the god damn home I was living in until some family took pity on me and took me home. I look back at him and try my best to smile before walking towards the fire escape.

“You sure you’re alright?” He calls quieter. I look back and laugh quickly in almost an anxious way before nodding. “Couldn’t be better,” I say and ended in a whisper before looking down at the sidewalk. I was still looking down when I heard him doing something and I slowly look up to see him scribbling something down in his book. I furrow my eyebrows as he walked towards me before holding it out.

“Here,” I eye it before looking at him, slowly taking it I opened it to the last page, seeing a phone number scribbled down.

“N-No,” I say quickly and shake my head before pushing it back towards him and he caught it confusingly as I took a step back. “You don’t need to do that- I’ll be just fine on my own” I say quickly but he cuts me off.

“Kate, I’m saying just in case. If you ever need to talk… I’ll pick up alright?” He says, holding it back out. I look at him warily for a moment before looking back down at the book. It took a few seconds before I slowly take it again and look at the book for a moment, seeing it was a journal. I look down before walking back over to give him a quick hug.

“Thanks,” I mumble a bit quieter. He was quiet and I felt him let out a long breath.

“No problem,” He says, bringing a smile back onto his face. I once again try my best to smile when he puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me a genuinely happy smile and I relaxed a bit.

“You’ll be fine,” He says with a small nod. I just swallow and nod to myself before turning and started for the fire escape. I turn back and I wave to him. He waves, and then starts walking back. That was really fun… I just wish it wasn’t a onetime thing.

I get to the window. I open it slowly and step inside. I turn and close it.

Suddenly the light turns on. I freeze. Shit. I turn around slowly; seeing Jade, Ashley, Scarlett… and Miss Williams- with a security guard! I'm dead. I am so very, very dead.

"Kate." She Miss Williams starts. I gulp. "You have some explaining to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok! Please leave a comment or kudos, love getting feed back.  
> Next chapter I'm shooting to update April 25th (Monday) So check that out also!!


	13. Change of Plan?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's your chapter!! Enjoy!  
> And thank you so much TriberForLife93, and lisatheredfox for the Kudos!! :)

Ms. Williams waits for me to respond. Well, this is it. I am so dead it's not even funny. I glance at the security guard standing behind her.

"Well?" She says. I gulp.

"I-I was out seeing a-… friend." Please don't ask for details. I don't feel like explaining the truth of all this. Ms. Williams nods; a slightly pissed off look on her face.

"Why would you do that Kate?" She says. "You know the rules around here by now, I thought you under stood that!" She says. I look at the ground. I really messed up. She looks at me for a moment. "We thought someone broke in." She says. I look up. I didn't think of it like that.

"I didn't think it would affect anyone." I say quietly.

"Well if we hadn't looked at the camera's you could’ve been arrested." She says. Wait what!? They have cameras? I gulp. Well it looks like my visiting chances with them are over… It was still worth it though. I smirk to myself. Thankfully no one saw it. Ms. Williams turns to the security guard and speaks to him quietly. He gives a nod; glancing at me for a brief second, he leaves the room. She turns to me.

"I'm sorry." No I'm not. Please, I won't be sorry if I hated going to see them. She gives me a disappointed look; then shakes her head.

"This isn't going unpunished Kate." She says and walks out of the room.

I turn to my friends. Ashley just looks at me and then at the ground and walks toward bed. Scarlett gave me a small smile; also going back to bed. Jade walks by and fist bumps me. At least someone appreciates my risk taking skills! I smirk, walking over to my bed.

Someone turns out the light and I sit in the window seat. Screw going back to bed now.

 

~0~

 

**A few hours later…**

Natasha walks out of the elevator and onto the communal floor. She always got up early for her morning routine in the gym. She walks over to the coffee maker and sees someone out of the corner of her eye. She turns and sees Steve sleeping on the couch with a book in his lap. She raised an eyebrow; walking over.

She shakes his shoulder lightly and he opens his eyes; he shakes his head regaining himself and sits up.

"Shouldn't you be on your run?" She says in an amused tone. He puts his hands up to his face, rubbing it.

"Yeah." He says; his voice muffled slightly.

"Soooo, why aren't you?" She says. He sighs and stands up.

"Ok-"He starts. "I ran into Kate yesterday-… or- she ran into me." He says; furrowing his eyebrows and blinking a few times as he remembers what happened. Natasha's expression brightens.

"You did?" She says with a smile. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." He eyes Natasha for a moment, curious as to why Natasha actually looked quite happy to hear of Kate. 

"Wait, what does that have to do with you running?" She says. He swallows and lets out a breath.

"Well, we went out for a jog yesterday evening." He says. Natasha raised her eyebrows.

"Wait, she- convinced you..? To let her break out of the Home…" She says playfully. He sighed.

"Not exactly, it was more-“ Natasha gives him a look and he finally huffs. “Yeah, sure. If that’s what you wanna hear." He says in a slightly annoyed tone; walking over to the fridge. "She just wanted to know what's been going on." He pulls a water bottle out of the fridge. Natasha watches him for a moment, seeing him looking down at the bottle for several seconds. He looked as if he was thinking about it carefully.

"How's she doing?" She asks, getting him out of his thoughts. He drinks a bit of the water and hesitates.

"I don't know. She says she's fine but…" He stops and shakes his head for a moment.

"You think otherwise." Natasha finishes. He nods. "It's a lot quieter around here, I'll give it that." She says looking around.

"When's Pepper getting back?" He asked. Natasha shrugged.

"Don't know. I think later tonight."

Steve nods after a few seconds before sighing before walking around the counter. After he sits down in a chair his eyes went back down to the bottle in his hands.

“Hey, where’s your journal?” Natasha asks after watching him zone out yet again. His head shoots up and he swallows before clearing his throat.

“I uh, gave it to her” He shrugs before placing his water bottle on the counter.

“Because…?” She raises an eyebrow.

“I put my number in it,” He replies before once again picking up the bottle and drank a bit more. Natasha gave him a hesitant look.

“Don’t you think it would have been appropriate to think a bit more carefully about what giving that information out could do? Not to mention it’s personal” Natasha says evenly, crossing her arms. Steve looks up at her for a moment and immediate disapproval swept over his face before he looked away with a shake of his head.

“I did think about it,” He says with a curt nod. “I thought about how we rescued an orphan girl who had been tortured for 8 months, took her in and gave her a home and a group of people she could trust- in order to deprive her of information, then threw her out when she was no longer of use” He says and a look of utter disgust and anger crossed his face. “She might have just been a liability to you Nat, but she wasn’t to me alright? She’s just a kid”

“I know that,” She says back at him. “You gotta think of the bigger picture here, Rogers. I get she wasn’t a liability, but she did have information that we needed and we were given orders to get it”

“You tricked her into trusting you” He snaps back. “Did you have any feelings for her at all?!” He demanded, although he kept himself mostly in check.

“Yes, Steve! Yeah, I did have feelings for her. I did care about her believe it or not. But I chose not to show it so that I wouldn’t get attached” She makes clear. “If I let myself get close to people, it’s just another liability that I have to worry about. Another responsibility, a chance that they could get hurt”

Steve just eyes her as she speaks and crosses his arms before looking down, clenching his jaw.

“I get that you were attached to Kate, but you need to also realize that this is not the 1940’s. People these days don’t give a damn about who you are or what you care about,” Natasha says sharply. “You giving your personal number to Kate can be dangerous”

“I gave it to her so that she can call if she ever wanted to talk, Natasha. I’m sure I’ll be fine” He makes clear. “I honestly would prefer not to have her think we just forgot about her as soon as we got rid of her-“

“I never said it was dangerous for you” She makes clear, causing Steve to stop for a moment. His eyes trailed down slightly and he gave a little nod.

“So you do care,” He mumbles to himself.

“I already said that didn’t I?” She shot back. He looked at her for a moment before giving a slight shrug.

“Actually you said you had feelings for her, but that basically means that you care about her” He sums up. Natasha narrows her eyes at him before turning to walk for the door.

“Just answer me one thing,” Steve called after her. Natasha stopped and turned back to him. “If it was down to you… would you have let her stay here?” He asked quietly. The assassin was quiet for a few moments before giving a little nod.

“Yeah… yeah I would,” She left the room before Steve could say anything else.

 

~0~

 

I put a carrot into my mouth. No one has said a word to me since last night. Come one, I mean I didn't break the law or anything…Wait, did I? - ok not the point. We were in the cafeteria right now eating lunch.

"Ok, someone please say something." I look at them. Jade was sitting next to me, and Ashley and Scarlett were sitting across from me. They look up at me. "It wasn't that bad! ... Was it?" I ask.

"I just wish you would have told us. Don't you trust us?" Ashley speaks up. Well duh I trust you-… just not with my ability and who I used to live with. Simple enough.

"Yeah I trust you; I just didn't think you'd want to know." I say with a shrug.

"Dude. You broke out of the home. Why wouldn't we want to know your plan?" Jade says.

"What were you doing anyway?" Scarlett says; sipping her drink.

"I was…" I swallow. "Seeing Sam." I say like I was defeated. She narrowed her eyes for a moment.

"Why didn't you just wait til today?" She says. I raise an eyebrow. "Remember? She's coming to see you today!" Scarlett says with a laugh. Holy shit I forgot! I'm such an idiot it's not even funny.

"Oh! Yeah, I know. I just wanted to visit her apartment." I say, nodding to myself. I actually need to convince myself of this. She smiles and nods.

"Ok then." She says; putting a french-fry in her mouth.

 

~0~

 

I stir my cocoa with a straw. I was waiting for Sam. It was about 6pm right now. Now when she gets here I'm gonna have to explain to her that I was at her apartment last night and not you know where.

I look up from my cocoa when someone walks up to me.

"Hey!" Sam says excitedly. I smile and stand up; she pulls me into a hug.

"It's so good to see you." I can't believe I haven't seen her in over two weeks. It feels like a life time now.

"It's good to see you too Kate." She says; putting a hand on my shoulder. I smile; nodding to the seats for us to sit down. She smiles; taking a seat across from me. "So how've you been? I haven't heard from you in so long." She says with a laugh. I sighed.

"Yeah, I lost my phone charger so I haven't been able to charge it. I've been seeing if anyone has found one or something, but nothings turning up so…" I trail off with a laugh. She makes a pouty face.

"Awe, sucks to be you." She says with a smirk. I put a hand to my chest in offense with a smile.

"Ah, Miss Powell." Ms. Williams says walking up. Sam gives a small smile. "Did you to have fun last night?" She says smugly. “I assume that's where you went." She says; turning to me. Sam raised an eyebrow; glancing at me. I look at the floor quickly.

"Uh-… yeah. We did." Sam says. Ms. Williams narrows her eyes and finally nods. A wave of relief washes over me. Thank god. If she found out I'd be screwed. She walks away and Sam turns to me. "Ok, start talking. What'd ya do?" I swallow.

"Ok, I ran into Steve a yesterday. We talked a bit and he agreed to tell me about what’s been happening since I left. You know, how everyone’s doing. Apparently not much."

"You convinced _him_ to let you do that?" She says; raising an eyebrow.

"It was more him agreeing to let me break out" I laugh. Sam chuckles. It's silent for a few seconds.

"You miss them a lot don't you?" She asked quietly. After a few seconds I bit my lip and nodded. I really really REALLY miss them. I just don't want to admit that I'd give anything. Freakin _anything_ to be back at the tower.

"It was fun while it lasted." Let's try and keep things positive. She gives me a small smile.

"Yeah." She says trailing off. I take my eyes off her for a moment; sipping my cocoa. They started serving the warmer drinks early this year. Even thought it was only the second week of October.

"If you could live with them. Would you?"

"Hell yeah." What kinda stupid question is that? Ah, who knows, it is Sam I'm talking to.

"Like, seriously. If for some weird reason you could live there for the rest of your life… Would you?" She says in a serious tone. I raise an eyebrow.

"Yeeaaaahh." I say slowly. "Why are you asking me this?" She's so weird. I see her expression change as she snaps out of her serious mode. She grins.

"Don't know. I just like asking questions." She says like it was a stupid question. I roll my eyes.

 

~0~

 

**Meanwhile at the Tower…**

Everyone had sat down to eat. Thor, Jane, and Darcy came; they'd be staying at the tower for a few days. Pepper picked up her fork; putting some green beans into her mouth.

"Anyone gonna say anything?" Clint speaks up. No one had said a word at the table yet. Natasha shrugs.

"Steve saw Kate last night." She says casually. Everyone looks up. Steve stops, about to put a bite in his mouth.

"Wait- what? You saw Kate!?" Clint says. He nods.

"Yeah, we bumped into each other at the museum."

"How is she?" Pepper asked in a concerned but intrigued tone. Steve finished chewing the bite of food.

"She's… Um… good. She’s ok. I don't think she's having a particularly exciting time there… but she said she was ok." He says quietly, looking down at his plate. Everyone was quiet for a few moments until Thor cleared his throat.

“Why did Kate leave the tower? I thought she found refuge here,” He says, eyeing them questionably. Everyone at the table seemed to stay awkwardly quiet for a few moments before Pepper spoke up.

“Kate was under surveillance by SHIELD,” Pepper says carefully. “She had… information that they needed,” She adds. “She was here to that we could get her to trust people more”

“Hm… sounds deceitful” Thor says after a few seconds. Steve was now intently trying to burn a whole through his plate as he stared at it and Pepper swallowed uncomfortably.

“No, it wasn’t like that” Bruce says. “Kate needed a place to stay for the time being, we simply provided her with that,” He tries to reassure Thor who still looked questionably.

“Sounds like you ditched her,” Darcy mumbles. Jane sends her a look from across the table and kicks her shin. “Ow!” Darcy blurts out before looking at Jane innocently. Jane gives a brief slashing motion across her throat for Darcy to drop it there and soon everyone was quiet again.

Clint occasionally looked up now and then and Tony was busy on his phone while stuffing a fry or two into his mouth every few seconds.

“So I guess I’m not the only one who misses the kid, right?” Clint says with a slight chuckle.

“Can you please find something else to talk about?” Steve states in a low and firm tone, turning an ordering look on Clint.

“Sorry Cap… I’ll drop it” Clint says, putting his hands up before looking back down at his plate.

Pepper had been eyeing them and slowly adjusted something in her lap before looking around at everyone.  

"Ok... I've been debating on whether or not I should ask you all about this..." She starts. Everyone turns to her with an eyebrow raised, with the exception of Steve. Pepper takes in a deep breath letting it out. “Since most of us seem to miss Kate I’ve been thinking-“

“Play dates?” Clint buts in with a laugh and receives an elbow in the ribs from Natasha. Pepper smiles slightly.

“Little more complicated than that,” She says with a small chuckle. Steve slowly looked over at her when she hesitated to continue.

"So… what is it?" Darcy plaining speaks up. Pepper takes in a deep breath and lets it out.

"I think we should bring Kate back to the Tower," She finally says.

“Bring her back how?” Tony asks suspiciously. “Meaning…” He trailed off.

“Meaning,” Pepper continued. “I think we should adopt her,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked it! Feel free to leave kudos or a comment


	14. Back Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone! I completely forgot to update this yesterday. It was a crazy school week. But I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you to the guest for the kudos!

"What!?" Tony blurts out after he had spit his water out across the table. "What do you mean adopt her?! Can you seriously say you can see me adopting a kid?” Tony asks half seriously.

“No Tony, that’s not what I’m saying-“ Pepper says with a sigh before looking into her lap.

“Then what does it mean? Pep when are we supposed to find the time to take care of this kid? Not that I don’t miss her, I do, but adopting? Can’t we stick with playdates?” Tony asks. Clint laughed at that, looking rather excited. Natasha actually looked fairly surprised, not expecting that to be brought up. Steve was still looking at Pepper with his mouth slightly open, his brows furrowed in the slightest.

“A-adopt her,” Steve stated to himself, almost looking a bit worried as his gaze was locked on the table.

“So you’ve actually been looking into this!?” Clint laughed before looking at Natasha and then back at Pepper.

“Yeah, it’s been about a week and a half since I started my research” Pepper says to Clint. “She had a certain affect that really brightened everything around here, and I honestly miss her a lot, so… ” Pepper says somewhat to herself with a smile. “And I know there are a select few that may not admit to missing her terribly” She smiles and casually looked around and then at Steve who glanced at her, knowing she was referring to him in particular, and quickly look back down while shuffling his hands in his lap.

“So you have dwelled on this decision for quite some time?” Thor asks happily. Pepper nods in reply with a smile.

“Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Natasha finally spoke up after finding her voice.

"Well I wanted to do a little researching about it all before making a big deal out of it -" Pepper pulls a cream colored folder out from under the table. "And with the help of all Tony's lawyer's I think that we all could adopt her as a family, so to speak" She says. Everyone exchanges glances. Pepper grins. "No one's denying that it will work." She says.

"On the crazy off chance, what if she doesn't want to come back?" Bruce speaks up. “Not that I’m saying she won’t, but there’s always that chance”

"Oh, she wants to come back alright." Pepper says, looking through the folder with a smile.

"And how do you know that?" Tony asks slowly.

"Sam told me." She says casually. "I asked her the next time she visited Kate -today actually- that she needs to ask her some random questions for me." Pepper says.

"You've really thought of everything haven't you?" Clint says with a smirk. Everyone is silent for a moment.

"Well I'm in." Clint says.

"Is this the right thing to do though?" Steve asks in a lower tone before the archer could continue. Clint looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the life we live isn't for the faint of heart. We won't always be there for her." He says, looking to Clint.

"That was a pretty cheesy line." Tony says. Steve sends a quickly glare in his direction.

"So, she can learn to defend herself." Clint says.

"No that's not what I'm saying. If we don't come back from a mission, or saving the world, whatever... How is that going to affect her?" He says. “If she starts getting closer to us it’s just another person in her life that’s going to be taken away from her” He says, eyeing everyone at the table.

"Cap- you should try looking at it this way," Darcy decides to speak up and Steve slowly looks over at her, somewhat surprised that she was getting in on this conversation. "Do you think she would rather spend her life with all of you awesome, avenging bad-ass-“ Steve frowned slightly and cleared his throat and she nods with a straight face. “Caring people? Or with some random family that may not make her, in anyway, happy." Darcy says with an eyebrow raised. He looks at her a little longer, and then at the table. Pepper looks to everyone.

"I think it is a fine idea. Brining Kate back to the Tower." Thor says. Pepper smiles.

"Thank you, Thor." She says sweetly. He smiles; taking a bite of mashed potatoes. She looks to everyone. "Ok, um who thinks we should?" Pepper says with a bit of a nervous smile. Everyone was quiet before Clint cleared his throat.

“Let’s vote and raise hands like civilized people” He says.

“You’re one to talk” Natasha mumbles and Clint gives her a smile.

“Alright, we’ll raise hands. In favor for bringing Kate back?” Pepper raised hers; Clint's hand shot up. Natasha put her hand up and so did Darcy and Jane. Steve swallowed his bite of chicken and looks around when he sees everyone eyeing him and he nods to himself before he raised his hand. Thor raised his and so did Bruce. Everyone looked at Tony. He rolls his eyes, raising his hand. Pepper smiles.

"Ok. It's decided. We'll adopt Kate." She says and nods to herself before looking up happily.

 

~0~

 

**The Next Morning…**

"What do you mean we can't all adopt her?! Pepper says. They were having a meeting with Ms. Williams. The lady that watches over a small portion of the home.

"If there are several people in the adoption process, then one person has to take a bit more responsibility over the child. This significant other would have to take care of the child’s needs." She says. Pepper rubs her head; glancing at Steve, Natasha, and Clint.

"So we would all be adopting her, but one of us would have more claim over her?" Clint says. Ms. Williams gives an annoyed look which she quickly hides.

"It’s a bit more complicated than that, but yes in theory. This person would be taking care of the child’s shelter, education, medical care, and so on." They all look at each other. "Would that be one of you?" She asked.

"Yeah," Natasha says. Ms. Williams nods.

“You may if you wish, choose someone to be a guardian. This is like adopting, but you do not have full legal custody over the child and you may back out of this at any time,” She says. Steve shuffled where he was standing and looked down.

“So that’s actually allowed? If you don’t feel like supporting said child you can bring them back” He states.

“Mm Hm,” She says with a nod, not really fazed by his disapproving glare at all.

Pepper pulled Natasha aside and began to take to her quietly while Clint slowly inched his way into the girls’ conversation. Steve began talking with Ms. Williams.

“So where is Kate now?” He asks, looking around a bit.

“Oh, she is in the library I think” Ms. Williams was looking down at her papers on her desk. Clint, Natasha, and Pepper walk back over a few moments later and Pepper gives a somewhat professional smile.

“I think we want to adopt,” Pepper says with a smile. Ms. Williams nods a reply before pulling a small stack of papers and placed them in front of them.

“Here are the papers you will need to sign, these are the adoption- and are you sure you wouldn’t rather do guardianship? I won’t lie, Kate has been a bit of a handful the last couple days” She says.

“What do you mean by that?” Steve asks somewhat sharply and eyed her. The woman looked up at him and still did not look at all intimidated.

“She snuck out to go see a friend a day or so ago apparently” She says with a shake of her head and Steve freezes somewhat and Natasha shoots him a look. “I still don’t see why she would’ve done it” Ms. Williams continues with a huff of irritation.

Steve shifted awkwardly and cleared his throat before nodding, shrinking back a bit to let the others talk.

“If you are adopting I would recommend a person she is closest to, or gets along with; someone she’ll listen to. I understand she was living with you for almost 2 months?" They nod in reply. “And you are positive that you do not want to do a guardianship? It isn’t as much of a commitment” She says, also getting the guardianship papers from her drawer and put them on top.

“We want to adopt,” Pepper says with a nod and the woman behind the desk smiles in return before Pepper turns. “But,” She hesitates and Steve was the one to glance at her confusingly and she looks to him with a smile. “This one seems to have a really good bond with her so I’d like to set him up as the guardian for the time being,” She smiles and pats Steve’s shoulder.

His eyes widen immediately and Clint and Natasha look at him reassuringly. He was silent for almost a minute, just looking at Pepper almost nervously when Ms. Williams picked up a box.

“If you will excuse me, I need to drop something off down the hall, I will only be a moment” The woman says, and Natasha gives her a nod as she leaves the room.

“Wait- n-no, I don’t think I should be-“ Steve finds his voice only to be cut off.

“Tony and I can take the adoption rights Steve, but I want you to be the one taking care of her” Pepper says. “You made it clear how much you actually care about her and I want you to have a say in the matter”

“I’m not the right person for this” He says quickly. “She needs someone who knows what they’re doing-“

“What she needs is someone who’s gonna care for her no matter how different she may be” Clint corrects. “You will know what to do Steve, trust me” He says and puts a hand on his shoulder.

“I think she’d want someone a little more experienced in todays-… lifestyle” He mumbles the last part.

"C'mon, she loves you." Clint says playfully. "Besides, you were the one who found her, AND you act like a parent to her anyway." Clint says. Steve gives him a look. “Well you do,” Clint shrugs before looking down. “Plus I think you of all people will keep her from doing stupid shit so I wouldn’t let Tony get his hands on those adoption papers” Clint adds, obviously hinting something. “No offense Pepper,” He smiles cheekily.

“None taken,” Pepper sighs with a roll of her eyes. “But in all seriousness Steve, you should. I think this would be good for you,” She smiles.

“Keep Tony in mind Cap,” Clint mumbles. “She could get hurt or something- all that lab equipment and weird potions-“ Pepper sends him a look as if to say ok you’re getting the point across.

“Good point, she could get hurt in there” He mumbled but then quickly shook his head. “N-no, I still can’t! Stop trying to switch this around,” He snaps at Clint who put his hands up.

“Steve you gotta see the bigger picture here. Kate is coming back to the Tower. And someone is going to be taking care of her as if she was their own. Is there any part of you, no matter how god damn small it might be, that would consider doing that for her?” Natasha says to clear it up before an argument broke out.

Steve was quiet for a moment and looked more at a loss than ever. This was definitely not what he saw himself doing, but something told him that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn’t do this.

He finally looks at her and nods.

“Yeah,” He says quieter. Natasha nods before exchanging a glance at Clint.

“Well it’s something at least,” She shrugs. “No way am I doing it, although I don’t mean to sound rude but-“

“Parenting isn’t your strong suit” He laughed and Natasha rolled her eyes.

“I could do it, I’ll just have to take her along on my business trips” Pepper says slowly. “But I don’t know if she’d be wanting to do that several times a month,”

“Think Bruce would?” Clint suggests.

“He’s sweet, but I don’t think so. Plus he’s edgy with the other guy. Kate has her own problems with her ability so I don’t know if that would mix right. She needs someone that will be able to help her calm down if she loses her cool” Natasha says.

“Thor’s out of the question,” Clint mumbles.

“Well actually I don’t think he is” Natasha suddenly says a bit louder and Clint furrows his eyebrows. Steve slowly looked over at her his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “He’s got Jane, so there’s someone to help” Natasha continues and gives Clint a hinting look before glancing at Steve so quick that only Clint saw it and caught on before nodding.

“Totally! And they would be moving all time! Not to mention Darcy would be there too so she’s got a friend. And Kate would probably get to spend the rest of her life on Asgard!” Clint says with a laugh.

“Like Thor would do that,” Steve says and chuckles almost nervously. Natasha and Clint look at him seriously.

“Why not? Although he didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Kate it would allow him to get closer to her. Not to mention he loved her ability and she could learn to fight on Asgard,” Clint continues and Steve slowly started to look more concerned and opened his mouth to speak but Natasha cut him off.

“Yeah, and although we may never see her again I’m sure she could help Thor and the warriors three along with Lady Sif when they go fight wars across the Nine Realms… although she might get killed if she’s not experienced enou-“

“W-wait, hold on.” Steve says quickly after his eyebrows shot up. “I think I could try to-“

“You’re volunteering?” Clint says astonishingly. “You sure you can handle this Cap’n? Cause I know for a fact that Thor would be able to do this no prob-“

“Yes Barton. I can do this,” Steve makes clear and the hint of jealousy was clear in his voice. Pepper was smiling amusingly and nodded.

“So you’ll sign as her guardian?” Pepper asks to confirm. Steve looks at her for several seconds and sighs before finally nodding.

“Yeah. I’ll do it” He says and blinks a few times and Clint silently fist bumps Natasha.

“Really?” Pepper asks again and Steve quickly nods.

“Yeah I can do it, I got it. I’ll be her guardian” He says quickly and smiles at the thought for a moment.

“Alright, since Ms. Williams hasn’t come back so I’ll go find her, Clint- you stay and… talk to him” She gestures to Steve and Clint salutes her with a smirk and Steve looks at her in a offended and confused way as Pepper pulled Natasha out of the room.

Clint looked at Steve and pulled him to the right side of the room before making him sit.

“Alright, there are a few things you need to know about teenagers from the 21st century” Clint starts and then frowns a bit. “Well, I take that back it’s actually a long list” Clint laughs to himself before getting a bit serious.

Steve looked hesitant but slowly nods as Clint sits in the chair to his left.

“So one thing you need to know is that she is going to fight you on everything.” Clint states. Steve slowly furrows his eyebrows and opens his mouth after a few seconds.

“… Everything?” He asks slowly.

“Yep. Absolutely. So that means if she wants to do something that you find questionable. Do not let her do it” Clint says. Steve looked like a confused puppy but nods. “And boyfriends! Shit, watch out for those. Don’t be afraid to threaten to shoot them when she comes home with one” Steve looked very startled by Clint’s suggestion and cleared his throat.

“Well… if she finds someone she likes it couldn’t be that bad, right?” Steve says with a slight shrug. Clint looked at him for a few seconds before chuckling.

“21st century Cap, almost every teenage dude is gonna want to get into a girl’s pants so I’d make sure to do your research” Clint shrugs and Steve’s face immediately reddened and he looked down before closing his eyes briefly and shook his head.

“Wow, uh… Ok, thanks for that heads up.”

“Also, I wouldn’t be afraid to ground her or something if she’s an ass to you-“

“For Pete sakes Clint, I’m not signing on to be her adoptive father! I’m signing on to be her care taker” Steve says and looks around briefly. Clint shrugs an agreement as Steve stood up.

“… For now” Clint mumbles.

“Sorry?” Steve turns back to him.

“Nothin” Clint says quickly and smiles.

…

**In The Hall…**

“What do you mean you’re gonna have Steve sign both?” Natasha asks slowly. “The adoption papers _and_ the guardianship papers?”

“Yes,” Pepper responds. “And we can just scrap the guardianship papers later, but I know he’s too concerned about Kate’s well-being that he doesn’t realize that Kate seriously needs someone like him that’s going to make sure she’s taken care of right” Pepper says to Natasha and she nods slowly.

“I know Steve can be gullible at times… but he’s not _that_ gullible Pepper, he’s smart enough to know when he’s being lied to. I think if you trying to trick him into signing both you’ll need my help” She says. Pepper nods after a moment.

“Ok, I’ll um, distract Ms. Williams and you have Steve sign the forms”

“Got it,” She nods before Natasha walked back for the door and Pepper walked further down the hall.

…

Natasha quickly walks in and shuts the door behind her.

‘Alright Steve, let’s sign forms” She says and pulls his arm to get him over to the desk. He somewhat lets her drag him over until his standing in front of the desk.

“Aren’t we gonna wait until Pepper gets ba-“

“Nope, they’re gonna sign the adoption papers another day but for now you’re gonna sign the guardianship papers so we can take her back to the Tower, cause Tony will need to be here for that” Natasha says quickly before picking up a pen and grabbed Steve’s hand before putting the pen in it.

He gave her a concerned look for a moment.

“Are you trying to rush me for some reason?” He asks slowly. She rolls her eyes.

“Calm the hell down Rogers, we kinda have to get back and clean the Tower before we unveil the surprise to Kate that we adopted her. So hurry up gramps,” She nods to the papers.

…

Pepper walked around the corner and saw Ms. Williams coming towards her.

“Sorry for the wait, we had a small proble-“

“It’s no trouble, but the time actually gave Steve some time to reflect and he would like to adopt her, and be her guardian” She smiles.

“Great” Ms. Williams smiled and then slowly furrowed her eyebrows. “Why does he want to also be a guardian if he’s already adopting?”

“Oh-… It uh,” Pepper hesitates before smiling. “It eases his conscious because he’s a bit nervous” She chuckles. Ms. Williams mouths an ‘oh’ but then smiles, before nodding.

…

Steve eyes her for a moment before he sighs and nods, pulling the papers closer and clicked the pen before he wrote his name on all the necessary signature lines. After putting the pen down he stands up straight with a playful smile.

“We can leave now,” He says before walking for the door.

“Hold on!” Natasha picks up the second packet that had been sitting under the guardianship one and walks towards him with the pen and papers. “Sign this one,” She flips it to the last page with the signature lines so that he didn’t see the front cover that had **ADOPTION PAPERS** written on it.

He huffs and turns, taking the pen from her he doesn’t give it much thought as he signs his name in two places before handing the packet back.

“Aren’t we gonna be waiting for Ms. Williams to come back?”

“Nope we’re leaving no-“

The door suddenly opens and Ms. Williams along with Pepper walked into the room.

“Oh, are we ready?” Pepper asks and looks to Natasha who nodded.

“All ready” Steve says with a bit of a nervous smile. Pepper gives him a reassuring look before Ms. Williams looked to Steve.

“Congratulations, I can see that Kate will definitely be well looked after” She says and Steve smiled shyly before looking down.

“Thank you ma’am-“

“Alright let’s go” Clint laughs before shoving Steve into the hall and Natasha followed soon after.

“I can go have Kate collect her things-“

“No, that’s alright. We were actually going to surprise her” Pepper says. Ms. Williams just nods before walking around her desk.

“What did you have in mind?”

 

~0~

 

**A day later…**

"Sam, I swear if you're taking me to a McDonalds I'm going to kill you." I say with a laugh. Sam was taking me somewhere for my birthday surprise. My parents had always given me a surprise on my birthday. It could have been going to a place, or an object, anything really. But since my parents… can't do it anymore Sam wanted to make sure it happened this year. My birthday was in the first week of July. It was the second to last week of October. And since we kinda missed it, Sam wanted to make it extra special.

"Don't worry, its way better than McDonalds." I look in her direction, I think. She blind folded me. Typical. I feel the car stop and she helped me out. We walk at least 20 feet into a building and into an elevator. I feel the floor move; and I stumble. It's a pretty silent ride. Where the hell is she taking me? I put my hand up slowly to take off the blind fold. Sam slaps me lightly.

"Ow."

"Oh please." She mumbles. I feel the floor rise a bit and stop. I hear the door ding and open. I raise an eyebrow. I know that sound. I just can't put my finger on it. Suddenly, someone pulls the blind fold off my head and I squint and the light. I blink several times before my eyes finally adjusted. They widen and I gasp.

Oh. My. God. I'm back at the tower! I look around me; my mouth open. Everyone was standing in front of me, including Thor, Jane, and Darcy! Jesus. Christ. Oh my freaking god. Oh my freakin. God. I feel my eyes start to water a bit.

"Welcome back Kate." Pepper speaks up. She bites her lip with a smile and she had a small chocolate cake in her hands that said ‘welcome back’. I feel my lips twitch up into a smile. I could see Sam standing slightly behind me. I feel my eyes watering more now. Best. Gift. Ever. I quicken my pace as I walk up to Pepper.

I pull her into a hug and she side hugs me, still holding the cake. After everything I thought they were past me. I thought they would have moved on, but they actually stopped everything to let me visit!

"Like it?" Sam said from behind me. I turn nodding to her.

"You've really stepped up your game." I say. Everyone chuckles.

"My turn." Clint says; walking over. I smirk. He pulls me into a hug. I hug Natasha, Bruce, and Tony. I walk over to Steve. He smiles.

"Long time no see." I smile. He gives a small smile before pulling me into a light hug. Once out of his view I furrowed my eyebrows slightly. Something's up. He doesn't seem right. He was tensed and had a weird look in his eyes.

I quickly shrug it off and smile to myself. I pull out of the hug and go hug Thor- who almost crushed me-, Jane, and I fist bumped Darcy before hugging her.

"So what to you wanna do first?" Pepper spoke up. I swallow; looking around. Shoot, I don't know.

"Why not do lunch first." Steve says. I look to him and nod.

"Wait!" I yell; holding out my hands. "Do we have pudding?!" I demand in a serious but childish tone. He smirks and nods. Yes! They thought of everything. I do a fist pump and run for the fridge.

 

~0~

 

I take a bite of my biscuit. We all had sat down to eat lunch a bit ago. I pick up my plate along with Pepper's, and Clint's who had finished, taking them to the sink. Thor, Jane, and Darcy had gone back to their rooms for a while, and Tony and Bruce had gone back down to the lab.

"So what do you wanna do?" Clint says; leaning on his fist. I shrug, sitting back down.

"I honestly don't know. I didn't expect to be here today." I honestly expected to be at some restaurant right now or something. But this is waaayyy better.

"Well Nat and I have to pay Fury a visit." Clint says. I nod, taking that into account.

"Could we maybe go on a run?" I ask, turning to Steve. He nods, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah, go get dressed." He says. I nod. I was kinda wearing skinny jeans and a flannel shirt. I run for the elevator and to my room. Sam had somehow snuck some of my clothes out. Don't know how she got passed Ms. Williams, but whatever! I run into my room, grabbing the bag of clothes by the door, and run into the bathroom to get dressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! Please leave a comment or kudos!  
> And the next update will be May 2nd (Monday)  
> Oh my god Captain America Civil War comes out May 6th (for me that is) and I'm really excited but also having a freaking panic attack. Anyone else like that right now? XD  
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!


	15. Surprise! part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all like this chapter! And because this one is close to the next, I will update the second one later tonight, so just a heads up when you go to view the latest chapter that was posted, don't get them confused! :)

After I went for a run with Steve, we came back to the Tower. We had a good run… despite his weird behavior. I don't know what's gotten into him. Did he not want me to come back or something? I completely understand; all the pranks Clint and I played on him… He just seems so nervous around me, don't know why, I'm not exactly intimidating-… I don't think.

I walk over to Pepper who was making something that smelled really good. I peek over her shoulder as she stirred something. She chuckled when she turned and saw me.

"It's pot roast if you were going to ask." I smile.

"Smells really good." I say. She smiles at my comment.

"Why thank you." The elevator door opens and Natasha walks in with Clint.

"Ok, time for the gym." Clint says; clapping his hands together. I turn with a huge smile.

“Really?” I laugh and he nods like that was a pretty stupid question.

“Well duh! Natasha agreed to spar with you and I’m pulling out the bows so let’s go,” He waves to the door.

"Yes!" I whisper. I almost skip as I meet them at the elevator and we go down.

 

~0~

 

"Steady yourself. You want to get the power in your punch from your body, not your arm." Clint instructs. I was sparring with Natasha… or- trying to. I had sent a punch which she blocked easily. And I kinda ended up on the floor. We had spent a good half hour or so working on bow tips and such and I got a few bull's-eyes. I was very proud of myself! Then Clint had to go and get every one perfect… but I was still a bit proud of myself.

I nod, pushing myself to me feet. Natasha grins. I swear; she is evilly plotting my murder in her head or something. I get into a fighting stance and she makes the first move; going for a kick, to take my feet out from under me. I jump and then block her punch, rolling to the side as she does another kick toward my head. I turn to slow as she knocks me off my feet as soon as I got up. I stayed on the floor.

"I'm never going to get good at this." I groan.

"Sure you will. You just have to try a bit harder." Natasha says; pulling me up. I sigh. I am training with the world's best assassins. I guess I'll get better at some point. I wipe the sweat off my forehead.

“It’s not like what you’re teaching today is gonna stick” I laugh as I scratch the back of my head. Clint furrows his eyebrows.

“Why’s that?”

“Well I’ll probably forget how to do it correctly by tomorrow. Working with little kids there kinda wipes your memory of anything down to the least bit important” I chuckle and let out a heavy breath. They were both quiet for a second and look actually really happy.

“Well… we’ll see” He chuckled and I gave him a bit of a weird look before I sighed and swallowed, still feeling a bit tired. Somewhere along the line when we worked on blocking I didn’t block a kick and got hit in the face. It hurt, but not too bad.

"Wanna break?" Clint asked. I nod in reply before looking to my left. I walk over to the punching bags and pick up some wraps that were on the bench.

“This your idea of a break?” Natasha chuckled. “I’m impressed,” She smirks and I shrug.

"This is kinda second nature to me thanks to my brother," I wish he was here. They nod.

"Did you have a good run?" Natasha asked. I throw one more punch; turning to them for a moment as I blow my hair from my face.

"'Yeah, but... Steve was kinda acting weird." I throw another punch.

"Weird, how so?" Clint speaks up immediately. I look at him; then shrug.

"I dunno. Just, he seems a bit shaken up, or something." I look back at the bag, not seeing them look at each other nervously. I glance at them and they smile.

"I'm sure he's fine." Natasha assures me. I nod slowly.

"Wanna watch the new episode of the Walking Dead?" Clint says excitedly. I stop immediately.

"YES!" I yell; running with him to the elevator.

 

~0~

 

Pepper was still preparing the pot roast when she heard the stairwell door open and heard a sigh as footsteps came closer to the kitchen.

“You sound tired” She says over her shoulder, looking back to see Steve wearing some jogging pants and a white undershirt, his hair wet from taking a shower.

“Nervous is more like it” He mumbled.

“You’ll be fine” She chuckled as she turned, taking the loaf of bread towards the oven. “Your guys’ run go ok?”

“Yeah it was fine. It took a while before I realized she knew I was acting weird” He says with a huff leaning his hands on the counter top opposite of Pepper.

“You’ve never really been one to hide when you’re nervous about something,” She gave him a smile and he rolls his eyes. “I know you’re worried about being Kate’s guardian Steve, but this is honestly something you shouldn’t worry about” Pepper gives him another comforting smile as she walked towards the fridge. “I think above everything Kate is the one that’s gonna worry,” She chuckles to herself as she grabbed a bottle from the fridge. Steve expression slowly changed as he eyed her for a moment, wondering how that could be.

“Why do you say that?” He asked slowly, almost hesitantly. Pepper’s eyes met his and she still had a smile on her face as she passed him a water bottle and kept one for herself.

“You don’t see the way she looks at you do you?” Was her reply and Steve’s expression didn’t change at first before his eyes went to the counter. “Kate looks up to you in so many ways, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed” She says reassuringly and Steve was once again confused as he looked back up to her.

“Who else?”

“Well Natasha and Clint for sure, they were on board with you becoming her care-taker if you remember” She grins and Steve laughs at that.

“How could I forget Clint’s run down of taking care of a teenager?” He says and Pepper chuckles. When it was quiet for a few moments the sound of the elevator broke the silence and both Steve and Pepper turned to see Clint and Natasha along with Kate exit. She ran over to the counter and towards Steve.

“Look Steve! I got kicked in the face!” She laughed and showed him the bruise on the side of her head. He nearly spit out his water all over himself as he quickly turned to her with a worried expression.

“What!?” He blurted out and shot a look at Natasha and Clint.

“She’s fine Rogers, just a little trial and error, we were showing her how to block kicks” Natasha says and Steve was still looking at her menacingly, ignoring Clint who looked like he was about to lose it in a fit of giggles.  

“Are you ok?” He quickly turned back to her before getting a look at the bruise on the side of her head near her ear but on her cheekbone.

“Yep!” She laughed as she ran around the counter before Steve could get a better look. Kate ran up beside Pepper and waited a moment.

“Are we having that for dinner?” She asks slowly. “I-If I’m allowed to stay that is, I don’t wanna intru-“

“Yes,” Pepper laughed and put a gentle hand on her shoulder as she was stirring the roast. “I was hoping you would stay, this pot roast isn’t going to eat itself”

“Kate put ice on that,” Steve suddenly appeared behind them with a small ice pack and Kate turned before taking it with a shrug.

“Ok,” She laughed before running towards the living room to watch the walking dead episode with Clint.

“Hey- 20 minute intervals! 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off!” He called and she gave what sounded like an ‘okay’ as they sat down. He swallowed a bit nervously as he turned back to the counter. When his eyes eventually travelled up he saw Pepper eyeing him amusingly.

“What,” He muttered slowly but couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“I think you’ll be fine” She whispers to him before turning back to continue getting dinner ready. Steve watched her for a few seconds before sighing to himself, looking back down at the counter when he heard music start playing on the TV.

 

~0~

 

This day has been awesome so far. I haven't had this much fun in so long. After me and Clint watched the Walking Dead episode that wasn't actually new; just a repeat from the last season, I had gotten up from the couch and I went down to the lab. Before I had gone down I put the ice pack in the sink since it didn’t really hurt as much.

I walk out of the elevator, seeing Tony playing with the glove of his suit. I walk over, sitting down on the spinney stool. Looking around for a moment I noticed that Bruce wasn’t in here.

"Hey kid," He tweaks something in the glove, not looking over at me. "Hand me that." He gestures to a screw driver looking thing on the counter next to me. I pick it up and walk over, handing it to him. He takes it and I see him fiddle with it for a few more seconds. He then grins before putting it down. "Ok… Wanna help me test this?" Tony asks and I stare at him for a moment with my mouth slightly open and I just nod a couple times. Seriously? Is he serious? He gets the glove of his suit and we walk over to a different part of the lab.

"What do I do exactly?" I better not screw this up cause that'll be the end of it.

"Put your arm in it." He says. I hesitate. “Don't be scared of it, its' not gonna blow up." He says. I smirk, putting my hand in and it closes.

"It's cold." I say; feeling all the bits and pieces of metal. He turns me toward a plain white wall, and then stands next to me.

"Ok." He says; positioning my arm up. "Just give your wrist a little flick and fire away." He says. I nod and I squint a little, aiming at the wall. I flick my wrist up and boy was I excited in that spit second… what I didn't count on was the knock back.

The blast threw me back and into the opposite wall. It went black.

 

~0~

 

It had been several minutes since Kate went downstairs and Steve was still at the counter while Pepper was still cooking.

“Quick thinking on the ice pack,” Pepper says casually as she went to get an oven mitt. Steve glanced up at her.

“Not really I just-“ His casual smile dropped when he saw the look Pepper gave him.

“You know what you’re doing Steve, don’t doubt yourself” She says, walking back to the oven to retrieve the load of bread. After she put it on the counter and walked back to the pot roast she heard a huff from behind her.

“So why didn’t you sign the papers when we were there?” Steve quickly decides to change the subject and looked over at Pepper, a mission file from a few days ago in his hands. Pepper stops for a moment, putting the spoon down in the pot roast she looks over her shoulder.

“I figured Tony should be there,” She answers.

“So he actually wants to…” He casually trails off and Pepper laughs slightly and looks back at him.

“Why? Are you having second thoughts?”

“Wha- no! No, I um… I was just wondering what he thought about it” Steve says and looks quickly back down at the file. Pepper’s warm smile widens and she shakes her head slightly before picking up the pot roast.

“Guys!” Tony’s voice suddenly came from the elevator and Pepper was the first to look over. Her eyes widened at what she saw and the pot roast fell from her hands when she saw Tony carrying an unconscious Kate towards them.

"Oh my god what happened!?” She shouted and as she had dropped the roast Steve was almost to his feet in shock but hadn’t seen Kate yet. Once he turned he practically dropped the file and threw it across the counter as it slid off the other side into the splattered pot roast that was on the floor.

“Steve don’t freak out it was just a little accident-“ Tony says quickly when he saw the look on their Captain’s face.

“What the hell did you do!?” He snapped before taking Kate out of his arms.

“Put her on the couch,” Pepper says quickly before Steve immediately did as told and they quickly walked over before he set her down and took a seat next to her. Pepper quickly ran into the kitchen to get a cold rag.

“It was just a suit malfunction-“

“Why was she near your suit in the first place?” Steve demanded, his gaze snapping back up to the billionaire and Tony opened his mouth before closing it.

“Steve, make sure she’s elevated,” Pepper called over. Taking it as orders Steve slipped a pillow under her head as Tony sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. “Here,” Pepper brought over a rag and Steve somewhat took it from her before she could say anything else and put it against her forehead.

Pepper caught Steve’s extremely worried look and she put a hand on his shoulder briefly.

“She’ll be fine Steve don’t be-“

“It hasn’t even been a day since she’s been back and she’s gotten kicked in the head and knocked unconscious under my watch!” He says to her guiltily.

“Technically it didn’t happen on your watch, it happened under Natasha’s, Clint’s, and mine” Tony says flatly and Steve pretty much ignored the correction.

“Did she hit her head?” He asked Tony in a tone that wasn’t as loud or angry.

“I’m not sure, she might have but she did hit her back pretty hard-“ They suddenly all look over quickly when Kate shifted a bit where she was laying and her eyes fluttered a bit, a pained look on her face.

…

**(Back to Kate POV)**

"Kid,… kid!" I could hear a faint voice… Tony? What the hell happened?

"She has a name, Stark. Use it." I hear a somewhat low voice. I think that was Steve. I squint my eyes open; seeing Tony, Pepper, and Steve. I was lying on my back on the couch. Pepper had a worried face; standing somewhat next to me. Steve looked pretty concerned; sitting on the couch next to me. And Tony looked… I honestly don't know; standing slightly behind Pepper.

"She's waking up." Pepper says; leaning down. I look around; then furrow my eyebrows. "How do you feel?" Pepper put a hand to my forehead; in a concerned manner. I felt her move something cold away from my head so she could put her hand against my forehead. I blink a few times.

"Uh, fine I think." I sit up and feel a pain shoot through my back. "Ok! Ok! Not fine!" I say; flinching. Pepper made a face; handing me a glass of water. I put it to my mouth; drinking a bit. Pepper turned to Tony; slapping his arm.

"Ow!" He says in a whining voice.

"What did you do?" She demands.

"We were testing the suits Pep!" He says.

"Why would you let her do that?"

"Because she's 15, not 5?" Tony says like it's a valid reason. They continue to argue.

"You ok?" Steve asked, looking back at me. I nod in reply.

"Yeah, my back hurts a bit." I say. He nods.

"Need anything?" I think for a moment. Ooh! I know.

"Would pudding be a childish answer?" I say with a small smile. He smirks.

"No, not necessarily." I smirk. "I'll be right back." He says; getting up. I smile, turning back to Pepper and Tony.

"She's fine, look at her." Tony says gesturing to me. I chuckle.

"Yeah she was knocked unconscious a minute ago." Pepper says. Tony rolled his eyes.

"Do you feel fine kid?" He asked. I nod. Tony smirks. "See? She's as fit as a fiddle." Pepper puts a hand to her face.

 

~0~

 

So today was a fun day. We were all sitting on the couch for dinner watching TV. We were having pizza; they even got my favorite; Hawaiian pizza! I unfortunately caused a bit of a panic attack when Pepper saw me unconscious… and I know Steve wasn’t too happy either. But long story short, since the pot roast was now a floor roast we got pizza.

After the little lab incident I actually was about to go back down to the lab with Tony so we could salvage the arm of his suit but getting past Steve was trying to move a brick wall so I wasn’t allowed back down into the lab… My fault. Tony did bring the arm upstairs though, so he was showing me some cool stuff while Pepper and Steve cleaned up the roast. I felt really bad but Pepper made it clear that none of it was my fault. Pepper even had a taxi go pick up Sam since she had to run home, so she was back and I felt better.

I take a bite of my pizza. I was sitting next to Pepper and Sam. Steve, Natasha, and Clint were on the couch to my left, Tony, Bruce and Thor were sitting on the couch to my right, and Jane, and Darcy had run to go get some sodas a block away or so.

I take a bite of my pizza, looking at the TV. Suddenly the light from my phone goes on. Yeah, Tony got me a new cord to charge my phone. Thank god! I see the time. It was almost 11… past curfew for calling in for the night. Ms. Williams would have a fit.  

“I think should be getting back." I say; taking one more bite of my pizza before standing up.

“What do you mean?” Clint called as I was about to start walking towards the kitchen to throw my plate away.

"Actually Kate, hold on just a second…" Pepper stops me. I look at her, an eyebrow raised. It got quiet and the TV was the only thing I could hear. I noticed everyone starting to exchange glances.

What's going on? It was silent for a few more seconds.

"Yeah, bout that." Tony starts with a smirk. I look around at everyone. What the hell is up?

“Did I do something wrong” I say quietly and almost like I was preparing myself. Almost all of them chuckled and I felt like I was really on the spot right now.

"You're uh… You’re not leaving Kate." Pepper says with a smile. "We adopted you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like it? hope you all did! I'm not to sure how many people are actually reading this, but overall it doesn't really matter :) As long as those who do read this enjoy it, I won't be as nervous to continue posting this X'D  
> Kudos and/or comments appreciated!


	16. Surprise! part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next one is up just like I said it would!! :D Hope you enjoyed the last one, cause this is the part 2.

I stared at her for the longest time and just didn't say anything. I couldn’t process those words for what felt like minutes.

"W-What?" I say barely above a whisper and my voice cracked a bit. Did she really say that? Would they actually do that? Did I even hear her right? Ok, deep breaths. Deep breaths.

"I said we adopted you." Pepper chuckles nervously. Shit I did hear her right. I couldn't breathe. Oh. My. God. Ok… ok ok ok ok ok. I should pinch myself really hard before I do anything else but I couldn’t move for the longest time until I looked around at everyone for a moment.

I put a hand over my mouth, and I think I feel my eyes tear up. I think this is actually happening. Pepper gives me a pitied smile and she chuckles softly at my reaction before standing up. I put my hands over my face to contain any of my tears which I didn't want _any_ them to see. I feel Pepper hug me and I put my arms around her, burying my face into her shoulder.

"Are you ok with that?" Pepper asked. “ I know it’s a bit short notic-“ Do you really need to ask!?

“Thank you” I say after taking in a quick breath in hopes to not start bawling. Was this really happening? I have to be dreaming right now.

“You’re welcome,” She laughed before hugging me tightly. “You sure you’re ok with it?” She chuckled.

"Yes! Of course I am." I pull out of the hug, my tears and red coloring in my face almost gone as I quickly wipe my eyes again. "Group hug time," I say and gesture to everyone to get up and come over. Everyone smiled before standing up. We all kinda met in the center and I was actually in the middle of it all. Once we were all hugging then Thor walked up and almost lifted us up. We all chuckled before he set us all down and we backed away a bit.

I can't believe this is actually happening! I thought at most they'd let me visit from time to time. But this is… This is nothing like anything I’d ever dreamed of.

"Oh and here's your guardian." Clint says, slapping Steve on the back. Steve tenses at Clint's slaps him. I furrow my eyebrows and look at Clint before looking at Steve. Wait-… what? Does that mean- "Someone had to take responsibility over you, and be your care-taker and such, so we voted this guy!" Clint whips his head around to him. Wait…. seriously?

I reach down and pinch my arm really hard before rubbing it slightly. Shit. Ok I’m not dreaming. This is actually happening. This is real. I think I’m going to faint.

"Y-you don't need to think of it like that-"Steve states somewhat quickly. I smile a bit shyly and look at Clint before looking back at him.

"Well how else would you put it?" Clint laughs.

"I don't know-" He grunted slightly when I run up and hug him. He tensed for a moment and I felt him freeze for several seconds. I didn’t even care whether or not he hugged me back. This freaking world famous superhero agreed to take care of me. I'm a nobody who honestly only got in the way when living here.

“Thank you,” I mumbled into his shirt and hug him tighter, not that it hurt him he’s a freaking super soldier for Christ’s sakes. He was quiet and I was about to pull away from the hug when he didn’t move but before I could, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly.

“You’re welcome,” He chuckled. I could practically hear the smiles I knew were plastered to everyone’s faces but Clint was the only one to actually speak up.

"Aw." I heard. After I took a step back I caught the playful glare Steve sent him.

 

~0~

 

I was adopted. I. was. Adopted. I can't believe that they adopted me! Ah!

We were all still on the communal floor. Sam walks over to me; I was in the kitchen cutting myself another slice of the delicious chocolate cake Pepper made. It. Was. Amazing.

"So? Surprised?" Sam grins. Wait wait wait. WHAT?

"You knew!?" I loudly whisper. She nods.

"Hell yeah I knew! That's why I asked those questions." She says. Well isn't that great.

"You little sneak!" I shoulder her playfully. She shrugs.

"It was for a good cause." She says. I chuckle; rolling my eyes. "This is the family you deserve." She says. I make a face.

"Cheesy line." I say. She rolls her eyes; shoving me. I smirk.

"Kate! You guys coming?" Pepper called. I look over.

"Yeah." I pick up my soda and plate with the chocolate cake. Sam started to walk back over and I went to follow her when I saw Steve get up and walk towards me.

I slowed down when he stopped in front of me and scratched the back of his head.

“Hey, I uh… Don’t want you to feel weird about this whole guardian thing or anything,“ He says quickly before shoving his hands into his leather jacket pockets. “I’m not gonna try to be your father or anything but-“

“Why did you do it?” I suddenly blurt out. I didn’t mean to cut him off the words just left my mouth without my permission. He looks at me for a moment before looking down. Once his eyes went back up to me he cleared his throat.

“Why did I agree to be your guardian?” He asks. I nod in reply, waiting for any answer. I wasn’t trying to be pushy but I was curious. He looked like he was thinking for a moment before he smiled. “Why wouldn’t I?” He says with a smile. I furrowed my eyebrows briefly and looked like a confused puppy.

“B-but… You’re Captain America” I state and look up at him. “You save the world, and I’m nobody” I make clear, not in a hostile way, but I was being honest. I see a hurt look cross his face.

‘Kate you’re not a-“

“Why would you even dream of ever becoming a _care-taker_? It’s such a liability and costs a lot of money and I-“

“Kate-“ He grabbed my arms to get me to stop ranting and I quickly look at the ground. The idea that I may be dreaming was coming back into my head. It just doesn’t add up. Why would he of all people agree to do this? “Did it ever cross your mind that I _wanted_ to be your guardian?” He says with a saddened smile after releasing my arms. I was still looking at the ground. “I didn’t want you to be stuck there in that Foster Home. As much as you may not believe it we all really missed you, especially me” He says with a soft laugh and I sniffle in a breath. “Don’t think I find you a liability, Kate” He says before walking around me to grab a water bottle. “I know Fury said that once before but he’s… Fury” He mutters and I laugh a little. “You know that right?” Steve says before walking past me and then stopped. I nod quickly.

“Mm hm,” I say. When he gave me a smile I quickly hopped over to where he was and hugged him around his waist. “Thanks again,” I say and he hugged me with his spare arm.

“It’s really cute how you guys are hugging and shit but you’re missing this episode of Top Funniest” Tony calls and Steve huffs and mutters under his breath before he smiled at me and we walked back over to join everyone.

 

~0~

 

I walked into my "new" room. I can't believe this was all mine again. I thought I'd never see this room again; not to mention sleep in it. I had said good night to everyone; and Sam went home. I walked over to the bag of clothes, dumping it on my bed. I see a note fall out. Raising an eyebrow I pick it up.

_I'll pick up the rest of your clothes tomorrow. ;)_

Sam's hand writing. I roll my eyes; placing the note on my desk before taking the bag of clothes to the bathroom. A couple minutes later; I came out of the bathroom in some shorts and a tank top. I flopped down on my bed and stared out the window for a moment. I smile.

I found a place to call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked! Please leave a comment and/or kudos. They're appreciated!! :) Next chapter will be up May 6th (Friday)   
> Captain America Civil War comes out that day, wow.... Part of me can't wait and the other is like me having a panic attack.


	17. Back at the Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My computer wouldn't connect to the internet... So unfortunately I updated an hour and 17 minutes after May 6, but I still got it up around the right-ish time  
> Hope you enjoy!   
> Saw a showing of Captain America Civil War today! My favorite MCU movie now! It was absolutely fantastic and amazing!!

" _Miss Sanders, will you be going for a run with Captain Rogers today?"_ I warily open my eyes, and then groan.

"What?" I mumble, burying my face further into my pillow.

" _It is 5:45 Miss Sanders."_ Jarvis tells me. My eyes shoot open as I look at the clock. It was indeed 5:45am. I usually got up and was out the door at 5:30. I scramble out of bed, throwing my sheets into the air and run for the bathroom. I brush my teeth quickly and throw my hair into a ponytail before running for the elevator, not bothering to get dressed sense I was wearing my usual tank top and shorts.

A few minutes later I run out of the elevator and through the lobby. I sprint out the door and onto the side walk before coming to a stop, looking around quickly. I then hear someone call my name. I turn around seeing Steve jogging out of the lobby. Oh… ha-ha. I let out a breath and swallow.

"I-I… though you left already." I breathe and stutter a bit. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hold you up,” He smirks once I apologize.

“Kate you don’t need to apologize,” Steve laughed. "I figured you'd forget to set your alarm so I waited." He says.

"Thank you." I say quietly and he gives a nod. I glance at the door. "So where are you going today?" I ask; kneeling down to tie my shoes, which I forgot to do. He rolled his eyes and breathes a laugh.

"Why not cross the bridge when we come to it?" I look up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Okey Dokey." He gives a small smirk before we walk out the door.

 

~0~

 

We jogged down the path, which was now covered in leaves. It was almost Halloween, like a week away or something! Sadly, Thor Jane and Darcy had to leave for a bit before that. His dad needed him on Asgard, Jane had work, and Jane's work was Darcy's work pretty much. They should be back by Halloween.

I glance at him as we keep jogging. Why is he so quiet? He's never this quiet. Were usually talking about something, even if it's the weather. I clear my throat.

"So, uh… when did you all decide to adopt me?" He swallows, turning to me.

"Uh, Pepper was actually the one who thought of it and brought it up a few days ago. We all agreed to it so Pepper, Clint, Natasha and I went to- sign the uh… paper work." He says. Ok…

I nod, seeing the break point a few meters ahead. We slowed down and I walked toward the fountain. Why is he so edgy about this? I mean I get that he's in charge of me now, but it's not like anything changed really… Although it makes me a bit nervous that he’s my care-taker now. I don’t wanna mess it up.

I finish drinking water and decide to speak up.

"So uh, how did you all decide on who would, uh…"

"-Who would become your care-taker?" He finished, looking up at me blankly. I swallow and nod. Great, now you're making me feel awkward. "They told me I should do it," He says and scratches the back of his head. I try to lighten the mood by smiling.

"You don't seem entirely sure that was the right choice." I chuckle. He swallows.

"I'm gonna be entirely honest with you Kate. I have no idea what I'm doing." He says more serious. I chuckle again.

"You don't need to know what to do; you just… go with the flow I guess. There's really nothing specific." I kneel down to re-tie my shoes. I mean, if anything it’s me who should be worried. I gotta make sure I make a good enough impression so that he doesn’t regret this for the rest of how ever long he ends up doing this care-taker/guardian thing.

I’m looking down and I can see him out of the corner of my eyes as he clenches his jaw, crossing his arms.

"Easy for you to say." He says. I raise an eyebrow, looking up at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I almost laugh but then cough a bit, clearing my throat. I’m suddenly extremely nervous and uncomfortable. He doesn’t seem happy and the more I say the more he looks like he wants the ground to open up and swallow him.

"Nothing, just, if you were in my shoes maybe you'd understand." He defends. I swallow and nod as I looked at the ground. I finally made myself look up, studying his expression for a few seconds.

"What are you afraid of?" I ask a bit quieter. He looks at me for a minute. Suddenly a loud bang came from out right. We both turn our heads, seeing smoke rising into the air a few miles away.

"We need to get back to the tower." Steve suddenly says. I nod quickly, following him as we run back.

 

~0~

 

The door opened as we walked onto the communal floor and I see Pepper watching something on the TV. She looked worried. I walk over with Steve and she sees us.

"Fury said he needed you in ASAP. He said Clint would give the coordinates." Pepper says immediately. I look at the TV. All I could see on the screen was explosions and people running and screaming. Oh god. I look back at Steve but he was already running for the elevator to get ready. I look back at Pepper.

"What's going on?" I was hesitant to speak up for a moment. Pepper bit her lip.

"There was a bombing about 10 blocks away. It took out a few buildings and there are at least 200 hostages in one of the buildings. There are at least 40 hostile people in the building; I think was what the report said." Pepper says. She was worried, I could tell. Hell, I was worried.

The elevator opens and Steve runs out, already dressed in his suit; his shield in hand. Holy shit that was quick.

He walks over, about to speak when suddenly the lights, and TV goes out. A sound like a motor dying follows.

"Barton, I didn't catch that, what street?" Steve says with a hand slightly up to his com. He sighed, and mummers under his breath. "Coms are jammed." He says; then walks toward the stairs. I clench my jaw. Now I have that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew now that I was living here that I would be seeing them leaving a lot. The door closed behind him. I realize I was jogging toward the door. Thankfully he hadn't gotten far. He stops and looks up passed the few stairs in confusion. "You ok?" He asked, in an 'I have to go' tone; but in a polite way. I clench my jaw; getting down the few stairs and meeting him in a hug. He tensed even more so but after a few seconds his tenseness dropped and he wrapped his one arm around me in a hug, the other slightly hugging me although he was holding his shield.

Man I really hate this feeling. The last time I felt it was when my brother first went overseas, and he came back, but… This is different, - a lot different. I can't lose anyone else. I don't know if I could take that. Not after everything that's happened. Just being back at the Tower now, I like who I’m living with and everyone here means something to me now, they’re important to me.

“Can I come?” I ask quietly. “You know, I do have abilities. I might be able to help,” I say slowly. Although I couldn’t believe I let the words leave my mouth. What the hell was I thinking saying that? I don’t have any experience fighting bad guys-… Well, proper experience. I injured plenty of people while at the warehouse.

“I appreciate the offer Kate, but this isn’t an appropriate time nor place-“

“What if I tried to find people? The good ones that is, if they’re still in the building,” I say quickly, now wanting to actually come along. Maybe if I help they’ll see I have a use and I’m not entirely lazy.

“Kate, I also don’t want you out there,” He chuckled after pulling out of the hug; his tenseness and uncomfortable tone was gone and he seemed more relaxed for some reason. “I get you wanna help… I would to at your age, believe me” He says with a small chuckle. “But right now I need you to stay here ok?” He says with a small smile, not an extremely happy one, more of a somewhat friendly smile. And I knew by his tone he was in a hurry.

“K… Make sure they all stay alive,” I say while backing up. “That includes you” I say and smile a bit.

"We will." He says. I nod and he gives me on last look before disappearing down the stairs. I huff and mumble under my breath before I walk back up the stairs and back onto the communal floor. Pepper was looking out the window; glancing at me as I walk over.

"So this must not be new to you." I whisper. She chuckles.

"Yeah… God they scare me sometimes." She says, biting her lip again. I nod. Staring at the window, seeing smoke in the distance. You all better get home safely.

 

~0~

 

"Pepper, when are they gonna get back?" I groan. I was lying across the top of the couch, staring out the window. Pepper was anxiously watching the news, trying to get a glimpse of any of them.

"I don't know Kate. Wish I did." Pepper says calmly. I moan, rolling off the top of the couch and onto the cushions. Suddenly the elevator doors opened and we both looked over. They all walked- or stumbled out of the elevator. Oh. My. God. "Are you all alright?" Pepper walked over concerned.

Clint had a long gash down his bicep and a few cuts and scrapes on his face. Natasha has a bloody lip. Steve's mask was gone and he had a gash over his eyebrow, and blood coming from his left side near his ribs slightly. Tony, despite having his suit, had a scrape on his forehead and a black eye. They were all covered in ash. Bruce had stayed in the lab sense this wasn't necessarily a national crisis, and to prevent more damage from being caused.

"Yeah, yeah. We're fine." Clint mumbles. Christ, this is pretty intense. For some reason I thought this would be easy. But now that I actually see them, beaten up and bruised in front of me… this is gonna be a lot harder than I thought.

"None of you seem fine!" Pepper says; walking over to the fridge; grabbing four water bottles. Clint and Natasha sat down at the bar. I stood off to the side, holding my forearm. I had never seen them like this. It was a little uncomforting. Pepper handed a water bottle to Tony, and then walked over to Clint and Natasha, handing two to them. She handed the last one to Steve as he walked over. He tensed as he sat down, holding his side slightly.

"You all need to go see Bruce at some point tonight." Pepper orders.

"Oh, c'mon Pep." Tony whines. Pepper gives him a look.

"Come one over kid." Clint says. I hesitantly walk over, sitting in the spare seat between Steve and Natasha.

"So uh, what happened?" They chuckle.

"Just another group of people who thought they could take us on." Clint says. I smirk.

"They managed to pack the office buildings with C-4 and take almost 250 hostages." Natasha says. I nod.

"Sounds like it was tough."

"Yeah, it felt tough." Steve mumbles, holding his side, which looked like it was bothering him more now. I chuckle a bit, seeing the blood running down his side and all over his hand.

"Shouldn't you uh…" I start, looking at his side. He looks up at me.

"Yeah, get down stairs now and have Bruce check that." Pepper orders again. He nods, getting up and heading for the elevator. I watch him go and turn back to Natasha and Clint.

"It sounds like a nightmare." I state. Natasha chuckled.

"It's really not. It's just… not for the faint of heart." She says.

"Yep. Best job I ever had." He says; leaning against the counter. I listen to them talk about their jobs as SHIELD agents for a bit longer. How they can go undercover for up to months at a time, and get to train with special equipment. It sounds like such a neat job. I myself had always wanted to join the Military like my brother. But now, it just seemed like it didn't fit. I honestly don't know if I could do it either. It would remind me too much of him.

After they all cleaned up and we had our fabulous leftover pizza, I hit the sack early… After everyone, besides Bruce and Pepper fell asleep. And as I was finally lying in my bed and staring at the ceiling I realized something.

I think I wanted to be a SHIELD agent. I mean, I’m living with the Avengers. If Steve thinks that I shouldn’t be helping then maybe I could look into that Junior SHIELD program that Natasha and Clint mentioned when telling me about SHIELD in general. I mean- I could get experience and help out and-

I heard a knock on my door seconds later and I look over at my door with confusion. I squint a bit when I felt the wind from the ceiling fan as I slowly got up and headed towards my door. Once my hand gripped the knob I slowly pulled the door open and squinted once again at the hall light.

“Hey-“ I look up and see Steve and I narrow my eyes a bit more. “Wait-… Kate were you sleeping?” He asked, looking much more awake than I was.

“No… not yet at least” I mumble and sniffle in a breath before rubbing my eyes before I looked back up at him.

“God, I’m sorry I should’ve come earlier” He mumbled before scratching the back of his head. I just shrug as I was looking at him and slowly furrow my eyebrows.

“What did Bruce say?” I decide to ask. Steve looked at me for several seconds and he looked a bit confused at what I was asking. I wait a bit before huffing. “You looked like you were about to bleed out when you got back?” I hint to him and he quickly nods.

“Yeah, he stitched it up so I think it’ll heal by tomorrow morning” He shrugs. I just nod after a few seconds before thinking for a moment. Should I ask him about the Junior SHIELD program?

I bite my lip for a moment and saw Steve eyeing me with a hesitant look again, like he knew I was trying to say something.

“I-…” I stop for a moment and breathe out. “… I was wondering if I could,” I don’t wanna just force this on him right now. I mean, he’s been my care-taker for only a day so far and I’m already gonna ask him if I can become a junior agent of SHIELD.

“Could what?” He asks, and I almost felt bad that I wasn’t going to tell him. He looked understanding, probably realizing that what I was trying to ask made me uncomfortable and I was hesitant. I bite my lip before smiling.

“Nothing. It’s nothing, I’m gonna go to bed” I mumble before rubbing my eyes. He slowly looks down before nodding and looked down the hall briefly before looking back at me.

“Kate you can still tell me anything,” Steve says before I have a chance to close my door. I remember him telling me that before I told him I was leaving for the Foster Home. “Right? You do know that,”

“Mm hm,” I smile briefly before closing the door a bit. “Night,” I add.

“Goodnight,” He says, pulling together a smile before I closed my door.

I flopped back into bed seconds later and stare at the ceiling a bit longer. I’ll just have to ask around about being a SHIELD agent first. Get a little background knowledge before bringing it up. I just have to do it without anyone catching on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed, comments and kudos welcome :)  
> Don't know if the comments have to be enabled or something... maybe you people can't even comment but I  
> am trying my best to figure it all out.  
> -NEWS FLASH-  
> Going on a trip to see relatives on the West Coast (USA), and will be gone from May 12th to May 21st   
> I will be updating early next week on days: May 9th, May 10th, and May 11th.   
> So look out for those! And then after that on May 23rd, the regular updating schedule will be back


	18. Asking Around

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's your next chapter ya'll! :D Hope you enjoy it! And thank you icelover0908 and guests for the kudos!!   
> PinkyWinky44, thanks so much for the comment and support! PS, I will be updating the story on FF before I leave don't worry. It may be shorter but I hope to update it as soon as I can, thanks for the reminder! XD

I walk onto the gym floor and see Natasha. I begin to walk over. I was about to take a huge leap of faith and ask her a couple questions about joining the Junior SHIELD program.

"Hey Natasha?" I ask, walking up to her. She was punching one of the bags. She turned, blowing the bangs from her face.

"Yeah?" She looked at me with surprisingly calm eyes. She threw a few more punches. I swallow.

"Uh-say if, someone… wanted to be a SHIELD agent, like in the junior program... How would they start?" Her punch hits the bag and stops. There was some awkward dead silence.

"Wait- what?" She turned back again. I gulp. Oh- no.

"W-what do you have to do to become a junior SHIELD agent?" I ask nervously. She raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" I shrug.

"No reason." I try to say casually. She drops her fist and nods to the benches. We walk over and take a seat.

"Well, you need to have a proper education and training prior, I know that. And this _person_ would have to go to a SHIELD academy or base to be tested, depending on what area you want to excel in." She says. "But other than that, you want to ask Clint. I didn't really go through the proper- uh…. Steps. You could say I guess." She says with a smile. I nod, looking away for a moment. Ok, now I gotta find the bird brain.

"Ok, that's Tasha." I smile, getting up and walking for the door. She gave me a nod, walking back over to the bags.

 

~0~

 

I walk into the elevator and the door closes. Man that was close. At least she didn't ask too many questions. I will have to tell them at some point though. Well… not until I get it all sorted out that this is what I want to do with my life.

The door opens a little too soon for comfort and I walk onto the communal floor. Thankfully Pepper was at work and Steve was on the carrier, plus Tony and Bruce were in the lab so I didn't need to worry about him telling anyone. I walk over to Clint, who was sitting on the couch watching The Walking Dead again.

"Hey Clint?" I plop down on the couch diagonal to his right. He shoves a handful of popcorn into his mouth, and then finishes chewing.

"Yeah kiddo?" I stare at the ground for a moment.

"Uh- what kinda school does a person go to uh, uhh- n-not me… if they wanted to go to a SHIELD school?" Smooth Sanders. Real smooth. He stopped the handful of popcorn that was about to go into his mouth.

“SHIELD school? Like an academy?”

“Well… I don’t know. I’m talking about the junior program? How do you like… apply for that?” I question slowly and quietly. He looks at me for several seconds before narrowing his eyes a bit.

"Why, are you thinking about-?"

"No." I blurt out. He grins.

"You are, aren't you?! You wanna be a SHIELD agent!" He shouts in excitement. My eyes widen. Shit. I'm done for.

"No I don't, shut up!"

"I'm telling Tasha!" He says with a grin, running for the stairs. I get up and chase after him. He was way too fast for me though... or was he?

…

Clint ran down the stairs as fast as he could and burst through the door to the gym.

"Hey Nat, guess what!?" He yells. Natasha turned looking at him with an eyebrow raised and he ran toward her. Suddenly before the door could close a black leopard leaped out and ran at him, tackling him to the floor with a roar. Natasha stared wide eyed for a moment. She knew it was Kate but she didn't know what brought this on. "Christ! Ok, ok!" He says, putting his hands up in surrender. The big cat glares at him for a moment before crawling off him and stalking off to the far wall. Natasha pulls him to his feet and punches his arm.

"What the hell did you do?" She yell/whispers. He makes a face.

"Nothing! It wasn't my fault I was tackled to the gym floor!" He defends. They hear a growl from behind them as the leopard walks up behind Natasha. She raised an eyebrow. Clint has a glaring moment with Kate.

"Well you obviously did something to cause her to lash out." She says with a smirk. Clint grins, looking at the leopard (Kate), whose ears were pinned back, then back at Natasha.

"KatewantstobeaSHIELDagent!" He blurts out really fast. The Kate's eyes went wide and she lunged at Clint. He fell back onto the mats and Natasha watched them with a straight face. She watched as Kate had gotten her jaws around Clint's forearm and Clint had her in a head lock. They playfully wrestled around for a few more seconds.

"Yeah, I know." She said causally. They both stopped what they were doing at the second they heard that.

"Whaaaatt?" Clint drew out. Then he chuckled. "Looks like I didn't even need to say anything." He says, sounding satisfied. Kate rolled her eyes, dropping his arm and wriggling out of his grip.

"Yeah, I could tell you were lying Kate. It was pretty obvious… no offense." She says with a chuckle. Kate huffed, licking her paw and rubbing her ear. Suddenly her ears pricked up as she looks to the door, hearing someone walking onto the communal floor. She ran to the door and up the stairs.

"Wouldn't that be cool Tasha!? We could mentor her and she'd be so bad ass, with that whole shifting thing goin on." He says. Natasha smirked.

"Even if that happened, we'd have to worry about getting her in for a SHIELD test and get past Fury and-"

"Oh c'mon it'll work! We could make it happen." He says. Natasha chuckled and rolled her eyes. Clint pulled out his phone, seeing a text on the screen.

"Pepper and Rogers are back." He says. Natasha nodded, walking over to get her stuff.

 

~0~

 

**Meanwhile…**

Pepper and Steve were currently in the elevator.

"I still don't understand what you're worried about Steve; I mean you already pretty close. You just add looking after her into the mix." She says. He swallowed; obviously still worried about the whole 'being a guardian' thing.

"I don't know. There must be qualifications for stuff like this." He says; putting his hands in his pockets. “What if she gets tired of me constantly watching out for her? If teenagers are like Clint says they are I don’t think-“ Pepper chuckles before he could finish.

“Clint doesn’t have a teenager Steve. They aren’t that bad. Raise them right and I can promise they’ll be the best years of your life,” Pepper smiles. Steve tensed a bit, thinking over those words. How long would he be doing this? Until Kate was an adult?

“I just don’t know if she’s… happy” Steve frowns slightly.

“She’s more than happy Steve,” Pepper chuckled as the door opened and they stood there for several more seconds. “You just need to trust your gut, believe in yourself a little. What Kate needs right now is someone who’ll make her feel like she’s wanted and trusted,” Pepper explains further to him and watched as he looked deep in thought. Steve crossed his arms firmly and looked down with a huff. Pepper eyed him sympathetically for a moment. He was extremely worried about screwing it up with Kate and she could tell that the moment he signed on as her guardian, and secretly her adoptive father. But Pepper knew better than to tell him that now. She knew he would warm up to this once he started trusting himself more.

“What about school? Does she need to be…. Tutored or something? Or-“

"Don't worry about that, we'll all help figure it out." She says as they walked out of the elevator. "Besides, she's not that complicated-“ Suddenly Pepper screamed. Steve tensed and looked up in shock. Then he let his guard down; seeing a now very shocked black leopard sitting in front of them. All the blood had drained from Pepper's face. She took in a deep breath, putting a hand to her chest.

"Yeah, not complicated at all." Steve breathes a quiet laugh. Pepper shakes her head at his comment before smiling and straightens out her coat. Kate jumped onto the couch, shifting back into human form.

…

I shook my head; putting a hand through my hair.

"Kate- you scared the living day lights out of me!" Pepper said; catching her breath. I grin. Tony and Bruce walk out of the elevator and over to the kitchen.

"Sorry, earlier we had a slight-…." Uh…. Please don't ask, please don’t ask. "Complication." I say quietly. Pepper raised an eyebrow but nodded. I feel my shoulders relax. Then my gaze turned to Steve who was looking at me with an eyebrow raised as well. "Ummmmm…." I whisper slightly.

"What complication would that be?" He asked, sitting down next to me. I swallow and hesitate to say anything. Suddenly the stair door swings open and Clint walks out with Natasha following. Steve and I look up.

"Kate wants to be a SHIELD agent! Kate wants to be a SHIELD agent!" He sings. Everyone stops what they were doing. I feel my breath catch in my throat as it got completely silent. Oh. My. God. He did not just say that in front of **everyone.**

Steve turned and looked at me with a shocked expression along with everyone else. It was dead silent.

 

~0~

 

"No! Absolutely not!" Pepper made clear. Clint made a face at her comment. They had had a very silent dinner and Sam had come over. Thankfully Sam wanted to take Kate to a movie afterward, so they were gone at the moment.

'C'mon Pepper, she's a teenage girl. She should be able to make her own decisions!" Clint whines.

"Not under this roof she's not! Especially if it involves her going out there and risking her life." Pepper says. All the avengers exchanged glances.

"Uh, Pep if you didn't notice; but we all kinda live that every day." Tony says. Pepper sent him a glare.

"She is kinda living with the world's greatest heroes." Clint grins. "What'd you expect her to do?" He says. “And plus she wants to be a _junior_ SHIELD agent. They aren’t full agents and require an adult agent, or an S.O. to accompany them on most missions.” Pepper looks to everyone. She looks to Bruce who was standing off to the side; crossing his arms.

"Bruce. Please tell me how insane this sounds." She says. He swallows, seeing everyone glance at him.

"Honestly… she's not a weak girl… She could really amount to something, with Natasha and Clint working with her." He says. “And Steve of course if he’s willing,” Bruce adds and Steve ignored it somewhat. Pepper scoffs, putting her hands on her face. Clint grins and laughs.

"That's 4 to 1!" He says. Pepper turns to Steve who was sitting on the couch looking in deep thought still.

"Well to be technical, it won't matter how many people think she should do this because we need _your_ approval in the first place." Pepper says. He looks up at her. "Because like you said Clint-" She turns to him. "-She's still a teenager. She isn’t an adult yet, and she needs her guardian’s approval." Clint mumbles under his breath, looking at Steve. Steve looks around at everyone, and then at the ground. Pepper waited for a response.

"Let me talk to her first." He says. Pepper smiles and then nods.

"Ok, we'll give them some time to talk it over. In the meantime… how was everyone's day?" She says sweetly. Everyone slowly looks at her. Clint grinned and chuckled. Pepper made a face. "What?" She said. Clint shakes his head and gets up, walking toward the stairs. Tony started walking toward the door whistling causally and Bruce followed. "What did I say?" She seemed confused. Natasha chuckles quietly. Steve kept staring at the ground; his mind somewhere else.

 

~0~

 

I walked onto the communal floor, seeing Pepper at the table looking over stuff for work. I walk over, leaning on the counter. Pepper looks up with blood shot eyes and she smiles.

"Have fun?" I nod, leaning on my fist. "Oh-" She swallows sitting up. "Steve wants to talk to you; I think he's in the gym." I raise an eyebrow but nod, walking for the elevator.

A few minutes later I walk out of the elevator and see Steve over at the bags. He turned, seeing me walk over. He lets his hand fall from the bag and walks over to the bench where his duffle bag was.

"Hey, have fun?" He says. His breathing was heavy. I nod.

"Yeah." I plop down on the bench next to his bag. He sits down on my left.

"So, about this whole SHIELD thing-" He starts. I swallow looking at the floor.

'I wasn't going to tell anyone yet." I say quickly. “I was still thinking about it and- I didn’t want to put that on you so soon since you literally just became my guardian.” I add and he smirked.

"Yeah I figured by the way you reacted." He says. “Is that what you wanted to ask me about last night?” He asks and I see the pity in his eyes that I didn’t trust him with it at first. I give a small nod.  "You could have told me Kate. I wouldn’t have immediately turned you down,” He chuckled. I smile nervously and nod after a few seconds. “But, overall… Do you really want to be an agent?" He asked. I stare at the ground. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact.

"I-I don't know. Ever sense I was little I wanted to be like my brother.-" I see him tense slightly out of the corner of my eye. "-but, I don't really know anymore. I feel like I could do more good with SHIELD. But, I don't really trust them enough in the first place." I explain. He nods.

"There's no rush."

"I know, but I kinda wanna do more training, and that kinda stuff." He nods. There was a few seconds of silence. “If Natasha and Clint would help me that is,” I add quickly. “I don’t wanna come across needy or selfish, it was just something I wanted to thin-“

“No, no it’s fine. You’re not being selfish by wanting to help people Kate,” He chuckled. “Like I said yesterday… I was a lot like you at your age” He says with a reassuring smile. I smile to myself and look down before giving a little nod. “You can ask me for help to you know,” Steve says after a couple seconds. My eyes went up to his and I saw the comfort and understanding in them, it made me feel safer about being honest with him.

“Really?” I question before I could process whether to say that out loud or not. He smiled amusingly and nodded. “So by that… what do you think about the junior program?” My question was slow and still a bit hesitant. He looks at me for a moment, studying my expression and I quickly look down so that he couldn’t see the nervousness that was quickly taking over. He was quiet for several more seconds.

"I support your decision. Whatever you decide on." Steve says. I feel a huge burden come off my shoulders and I look up with a smile.  

"T-Thanks." He smiles reassuringly and nods to himself. "My parents never really trusted my judgment before-…" I stop and felt my smile disappear before look at the ground. I clenched my jaw and stand up. "I'm gonna go to bed." I say quietly. I don’t look directly at him but I can see him nod slightly and then stand up after I did so. I sniffle in a breath and scratch my head briefly and I start to take a few steps towards the door when I stopped.

I look at the ground for a second before I turn and run back over and give him a quick hug. That time he didn’t hesitate to hug me back, which had been a first and it made me feel more comfortable. He was all sweaty and still breathing a bit heavy but I honestly didn’t care at all. Getting an actual hug was something I think I missed the most, being in that warehouse for almost a year.

He was actually the first person I got a hug from after SHIELD rescued me… technically it was when I told him about my brother and I had a freaking meltdown, but it still applies. He was the only one besides Pepper who I knew actually cared in some aspect about me and he cared enough to the point to become my guardian. It feels nice knowing I have people to trust again.

"Good night." I tell him, looking up at him with a smile.

"Night." He replies back, with an equally comforting smile. I smile wider and nod before I walked for the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!!!  
> Again, next one will be up tomorrow (May 10th, Tuesday) and then the next will be up the day after (May 11th, Wednesday) Kudos and/or comments appreciated!


	19. Family Drama

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter for you all! Thanks for the kudos guest!!

Once I had woken up and made my way down to the lobby area and saw Steve waiting he had already been standing by the door with a smile.

“You ready to go?” I smile and nod in reply. Noticing as he removed his hands from his pockets and pushed the door open. I walked out and he followed as we started walking down the sidewalk.

I noticed he wasn’t nearly as tense as he was yesterday morning, he seemed much more relaxed.

“Think any more about SHIELD?” Steve says casually and looks down at me. I look up at him, seeing the friendliness in his eyes as he waited for an answer.

“Um… I little bit, but not too much,”

“Tell me this, when did you actually start thinking about this?” He asked curiously. I look up him with confusion. He actually looked to be in a good mood, in no way uncomfortable or tensed. Pretty much the opposite of yesterday morning.

“Well I think it was when Natasha and Clint talked about it,” I say in reply. “And also after SHIELD found me- or… you found me, whatever-“ I start stuttered and finally shake my head and shut up. “It was in the back of my mind for a while,”

I could feel Steve’s eyes on me but I didn’t look up at him as we found ourselves walking into the park minutes later.

“You wanna help people,” He says quietly to himself. I swallow and hesitate my reply as we pick up a jog. “Right?” He turns to look at me and I can’t help but look up at him that time.

“… After everything at the warehouse I- um. I didn’t really give it much thought that there were tons of other kids SHIELD hadn’t rescued yet. ” I say quietly. “I watched a lot of people I cared about die in that place. I don’t wanna have someone else go through that,”

I knew he was looking at me as my eyes were on the ground ahead, and I knew there was pity in his eyes. But I chose to ignore it best I could.

 

~0~

 

After I went for a run with Steve, we started heading back to the tower. We walked out of the elevator seeing Pepper, Clint, and Bruce. Pepper was getting ready to leave for work, Clint was sitting on his ass watching TV as usual, and Bruce was leaning against the counter with his cup of coffee.

Pepper looked up from her purse seeing us walk over.

"Oh, hey you two, there's bacon and eggs in the microwave!" She says sweetly. I raise an eyebrow and exchange a glance with Steve who just rolled his eyes. I walk into the kitchen and grab the two plates out of the microwave.

"So… have you talked to her at all?" I hear Pepper whisper. I see Steve make a face as I walk over.

"Yeah I-" I cleared my voice to let them know I was standing there. They both looked down at me. "Why don't you go to your room for a quick second?" Steve suggests with a smile. I narrowed my eyes slightly, and then slowly nod, handing him his plate before making my way for the elevator with mine.

…

After the elevator closed Pepper turned back to him, waiting for a response. Clint looked up from the TV, also wanting to know the final decision.

"I said she could if she wanted to." He says calmly. Clint laughs a victory and does a fist pump. Pepper's face drops and she opened her mouth to say something and hesitated.

"How could you do that!? Do you want to see her get killed?!" Pepper raised her voice.

"Absolutely not, but it should be her choice-" He starts but get cut off.

"Well then what about being a SHIELD agent do you think she'll benefit from? Fury almost killed her!"

"And she needs to know how to defend herself!" He says. Suddenly the elevator door opened. The two of them look at the door with their glares still on their faces. But no one walked out. Steve narrowed his eyes for a moment, looking around the room, but no one had come out. He shrugged it off, looking back to Pepper.

"You could easily teach her any of that! Plus she already had Natasha and Clint working with her." Pepper says.

"She has to get a job at some point." Clint speaks up. Pepper and Steve send a glare at him. Clint just raises his hands in surrender; looking back to the TV.

"Clint does have a point though, becoming a SHIELD agent at a young age with improve her learning ability so she can have a wide variety of career opportunities if she doesn't want to continue with SHIELD, later on that is." Bruce spoke up. Pepper looked like she was about to slap someone. She narrows her eyes; thinking for a moment.

“You know very well Steve that Kate is still unstable about what happened before SHIELD found her. By letting her get this SHIELD opportunity into her head don’t you think she might try to take advantage of that?” Pepper questions and Steve thinks for a moment about that. “She’s got enough on her plate without you filling her head with the idea of avenging her-“

“Pepper! I’m trusting her to make her own decisions!” Steve makes clear. “You told me I should trust myself with taking care of her. I think I should let her make this decision herself if she wants to join the junior SHIELD program,”

"I see what you're doing. You're trying to rub her off on SHIELD!" She says, as if she's almost thinking up every bad scenario. Steve threw his hands in the air.

"No Pepper! That's not what I'm doing-"He gets cut off again.

"You may not know how to take care of a teenager Steve, but you shouldn't be afraid of-"

"I'm _not_ afraid of taking care of Kate." He makes clear and got more defensive.

"Yes you are! I can see it, Steve! I can literally see it. You're afraid that you're not good enough to replace what she's already lost-"Clint cleared his throat loudly, getting their attention.

"What!?" They both turned to him. He looked serious, nodding to the right. They both look over, seeing Kate leaning against the window.

…

I was glad that Clint saw me standing there. Eventually everyone in the room was staring at me and I could see that they looked regretful that heard most of that conversation. Both of their expressions softened.

"Kate, how much of that did you hear?" Steve said quietly, putting a hand through his hair in an anxious manner. I looked at the floor.

"Enough" I responded quietly. I see his eyes trail to the open vent, about 3 feet away from my feet. That was how I got in, using the elevator as a distraction so I could get in unnoticed. Pepper glanced at the clock.

"Kate, can we talk about this later? I have to get to work." She says, gathering her purse. I gave a small nod and she quickly walked for the elevator. We had a good 10 seconds of awkward silence. Steve tried to avoid eye contact with me, looking for something else to bring up.

"Hey, uh I just recorded the new episode of the walking dead." Clint spoke up with a frown that I could see he was desperately trying to hide. I look at him; then to the floor.

"I think I'm gonna go for a walk." He gives a nod after a few seconds. I started walking around the couch; passing Steve on my way out without another word.

…

Steve walked over to the counter, putting both hands on the edges deep in thought.

"It could have been worse." Clint says. Steve almost chuckled, pushing off the counter and walking over.

"Really? Worse than that?" He sits down at the diagonal couch from Clint.

"Yeah. It could have been a hell of a lot worse." He says in a serious tone. He put both hands up to his face for a moment, letting out a breath. He then takes his hands away, leaning on one fist.

"What should I do now?" He said; almost more to himself. Clint laughed.

"I don't know. I would go talk to her and clear the air." He says looking back at the TV. Steve closed his eyes for a moment; then stood up.

"Man, is it always like this?" He says; walking for the door. Clint chuckled.

"Welcome to family drama." He states as Steve walks out.

 

~0~

 

I walked past the lake and made my way further down the path. I had my hands in my pockets and a hood over my head.

I was still trying to understand what I just saw back there. It was had to take in what they were talking about. I kinda wish I had listened in the first place; and went to my room.

I took my hands out of my pockets; rubbing them together. It was getting colder; and Halloween was-… holy shit its tomorrow! Well I know what I'm doin. I'll be sitting in my room watching movies. Well- before everything, I would trick-er-treat with Sam around our neighborhood. We usually ended up at another friend's house, but it was always really fun.

I walk past a few people; my gaze lands on them as I walk by. I could see several kids running around playing and a mom and dad sitting on the blanket in the grass. I feel my jaw clench as I pick up the pace, walking out of the park.

A few minutes later I walked into my favorite little bakery. I ordered a small mocha after sitting down.

I look out the window, seeing lots of people as usual walking by.

"Ma'am, here's your drink." I turn, with a smile.

"Thank you-" I locked eyes with the waitress in front of me. "Sam?" I question.

"Kate?!" She yells; looking down with me, almost dropping my mocha.

"What the hell are you doing?" I laugh. She grins.

"Serving you your goddamn mocha. What are you doing here?" She sits down across from me. I shrug.

"Nah, you don't really wanna know." I tell her. She scoffs.

"Well I'm asking, so tell me." She demands. I roll my eyes.

"It's been kinda crazy at the tower." I sigh; you have no idea how crazy.

"I've got time, my lunch break ends in-" She looks at her phone. "-5 minutes." I chuckle.

"Well, I'm debating on going into the SHIELD program to become a junior SHIELD agent. But Pepper is bound and determined to make sure I don't, she thinks I want revenge or something. She and Steve got into a small fight about an hour ago. He thinks it should be my choice, but Pepper thinks I'm gonna get killed." I explain. Sam just nodded.

"Well what do you want to do?" She asked. I shrug.

"Overall I want to be an agent. But honestly I don't trust them, and I don't know if I ever will, after, uh the sandbox thing happened." I stare at my drink. She nods. I stare into my drink.

"What else?" She asked. I look up.

"There is nothing el-"

"Don't pull that with me Sanders, I can tell when you're lying." She grins. I sigh.

"It's just something that Pepper said earlier; when she was fighting with Steve, she said that she could tell he was afraid that he wouldn't be good enough to replace what I had already lost- my family obviously- as my guardian. I don't know if it's true or not… I don't know; I just can't stop thinking about it." I mumble as I finish. She lets out a breath and we sat in silence for a moment.

"Don't worry; it'll turn out fine right?" She says. I smirk; still not convinced. I hear the jingle of the door opening; not bothering to look up. "Well, I'll leave you to it." She says' clapping me on the back after standing up. I watch her go; not bothering to follow her with my eyes as I look back down at my drink.

…

Steve walked into the bakery. The only reason he knew to look here was because Kate liked going here after they ran sometimes. He walked by a few people leaving when a waitress walked up to him.

"She's over there." The waitress nodded behind her. Steve looked at who was talking to him.

"Sam? What are you doing here?" He asked. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Is it not that obvious!?"She said to herself. Steve chuckled.

"Sorry." He states. She shrugged it off.

"Can I get you anything?" He shook his head.

"No thanks." She nods; putting the notepad back on her apron.

"Yeah, so she's over there." She nods behind her again. He looks past her; seeing Kate sitting at one of the tables sipping her drink. He gave Sam a nod before walking past her.

…

"Mind if I sit?" I hear a voice say. I look up, seeing Steve standing where Sam was. I shake my head in reply. He gives a nod, sitting down. I tap my fingers against my cup, looking around. We had a few seconds of awkward silence. "Ok, so… I don't know what you heard back there but-"

"I know what you're going to say, and I don't care." I say with a smile. He closed his mouth.

"I planned a whole speech as I walked over here." He says. I chuckle.

"Sorry to disappoint." He smirks, and then nods. I take a sip of my mocha. He stares at the table for a moment.

"Ok, I need to clear the air here, about what Pepper said-"

"I know it's not true." I say, about to drink my mocha. He swallows.

"Uh, actually she's kinda right." He says slowly. I stop my mocha cup from getting to my mouth. "I know you've noticed me acting a bit… um"

"Strange? Nervous? Anxious?" I question. He smirks.

"Yeah, but I've never really been responsible for someone before, let alone a teenager who doesn't have parents anymore- " He immediately stops talking for a second. I roll my eyes.

"It’s fine; it doesn't faze me too much anymore at the mention of it." Wow, I just completely lied to his face. He looks at me for a moment.

"Yeah, so… I just- don't want to mess this up, and I want you to be happy." He says. “I know I told you I wasn’t going to try to be your father or anything. And I’m not- Don’t worry. But I do want you to be comfortable with me as your care-taker,” He says and nods to himself before giving the smallest freaking smile ever, I barely noticed it. I smirk in reply.

"You haven't messed up yet, if that makes ya feel better." He chuckles. "And I am comfortable and happy…" I add. He nods.

"And this is the part where you head back to the Tower like a little happy family." I hear someone say from my right. We look over seeing Sam cleaning up the table next to us, wiping it down with a rag. She grinned. I roll my eyes. I hear a beeping coming from somewhere near us. Steve pulls his phone from his pocket, reading something over.

"I gotta go; Fury needs me at the carrier." He says, standing up. I nod, as he gets ready to walk for the door. "Wanna come?" I look up.

"Wait- you mean, like go to the carrier? _The_ Helicarrier." I ask in a serious tone. He smirked.

"Yeah. You wanna come or not? You can get a feel for the whole agent thing while you're at it." He says. I nod, forgetting about my mocha as I struggle not to jump out of my seat and skip toward the door.

"Have fun!" Sam calls as we walk out the door. I wave to her before following Steve out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and/or comments appreciated!! :D Next one will be up tomorrow! (May 11th, Wednesday)


	20. Kate's Parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry guys. Computer malfunction last night. I had to wait til today, and I was on a plane for a good portion of today so it was hard to update this. But here it is! Hope you enjoy

I followed Steve off the quinjet and onto the Helicarrier. It was huge, like a lot bigger than I expected. Plus we were on water! I walked over to the side and looked down. It was cool… but terrifying. I immediately backed up, running into Steve.

"Don't like heights?" He asked. I stepped to the side a bit, shaking my head.

"There not my favorite." I peak over the edge.

"Well then you’re gonna love this." He says sarcastically. I raise an eyebrow.

" _All flight crew, secure the deck."_ I hear a speaker sound. I look behind me, seeing several flight crew people running back out onto the deck with air masks.

"Oh no" I breathe. He chuckled at my response and I glimpse over the side again and see huge turbines bursting out of the water. "Ok, I'm done." I announce, walking for the nearest door. He smirks and follows.

After we walked through the door I began to follow him down the hall ways. There were at least 15 different ones we walked down. Then we walked through an opening and into a large dome-like room.

My mouth dropped. This was insane! I begin to look around, not bothering to follow him as he walked up to director Fury.

…

"Rogers what is she doing here?" He asked in a pissed off tone.

"I just wanted to bring her along; she's not doing any harm." He replies. Fury lets out a breath before handed him a mission file.

"You're leaving in 20 minutes. So you better find somewhere to put her cause I'm not your babysitter." Fury makes clear. He wasn't too happy that they decided on bringing her back to the Tower. Steve looks very the information regarding the mission.

"What's the danger level?"

"Minor, shouldn't be a problem for you." He says, and then goes back to his work. Steve closes up the packet and then looks over at Kate.

…

I look down through the windows in the floor. Jesus Christ. I back up and to the center of the walkway.

"Kate-" I look over, seeing Steve nod to the door. "We're leaving." He says. I nod, feeling a stab of disappointment. This place was kickass. I jog up to him and follow him back the way we came.

A few minutes later we were just about to the flight deck door when he turned down a different hall.

"Uh-, I thought you said we were leaving." I state, taking one more look at the exit door. He nods.

"We are, just not back to the Tower." He says. I raise an eyebrow, but give a nod. We walk into a different room and I see tons of SHIELD equipment and at the front of the room I see his Captain America suit and shield. Whoa, now that is awesome. He walks over and pulls the shield out.

"Wait!" He stops, raising an eyebrow. "Put it back I need a picture." I say, pulling out my phone.

"Really? You need a picture? We live in the same building." He says with a smirk. I nod.

"Well-… yeah. But this is like sacred ground!" I argue. He rolls his eyes, putting the shield back and stepping to the side. I get like 5 different pictures before giving him the all clear. I sat down on a small bench and looked at the photos.

He grabbed the suit and helmet before placing the helmet on a bench next to me.

“I’m gonna go change. You-“ He points at me and I sat up a bit straighter. “Stay here, and don’t touch anything,” He says with a smirk and I laugh before nodding.

“Aye aye Cap’n!” I salute him before pulling my knees to my chest where I was sitting on the bench seated in the wall. He rolls his eyes and walks out of the room and I stay put as ordered.

He comes back a minute later in the suit with his shield in hand, but he didn't put the mask on yet. I was still sitting in my spot when he started going through a few things. I watch him briefly before furrowing my eyebrows.

“Why am I still here?” I question after a few seconds. “Not that I’m not having fun! I mean- this place is awesome, but you’re leaving soon” I say and wait for a reply. He slowly looks over at me and hesitates to answer me.

“… The mission I’m going on is just to retrieve some information in an abandoned research facility. No hostiles and it’ll be in and out; quick.” He states and sits down next to me with a box in his lap. I look at him for a moment, several ideas running through my head about what I might actually be about to do. “I am willing to bring you along if you’d like to” He says slowly and I went wide eyed.

Shit. Did he just say that? Is he seriously gonna let me come?

“Seriously!?” I accidentally shout.

“Yes but there are going to be some very strict rules!” He says quickly before I could say anything else. “You will not wander off, you will not cause trouble, and you will not get me in trouble for this, got it?” H gave me a small smile. I nod wildly in reply and he slowly placed his hands on the box in his lap. I look down at it hesitantly and he opens it to show me the contents. My jaw dropped.

“I know you know how to use one of this. I trust you will not fool around with it?” He asks me at the end. I look at him and nod before looking down at the 9mm handgun in the box. “I am letting you hold onto this because even though this place is cleared, I don’t wanna take any chances, got it?” He smirked.

“Yep. Crystal clear, got it” I smile and he nods in return before placing the box in my hands.

“Don’t shoot your eye out,” He mumbled as he stood and I laugh.

“I understood that reference!” I yell as he walked to the opposite side of the room.

 

~0~

 

By the time we were ready to go Steve had me change into some black cargo pants and a SHIELD jacket, I found a cool looking knife with the SHIELD symbol carved into it and stuck it in the knife holster on my right calf, while the 9mm was in its holster on my left high. He picked up his shield and we walked out the door and back toward the flight deck.

After getting to the quinjet, I sat down in one of the seats while two other agents walked past us and to the piolet seats. They eyed me funny, like _who the hell is that?_ I give them a quick glare after I'm out of their line of vision.

"How long will it take to get there?" I ask. It better not be more than an hour, because if it is, I'm getting air sick. He thinks for a moment.

"5 hours, give or take." He answers plainly. I feel my face drop. He chuckles.

"Well, if ya don't mind, I wanna try and go to sleep, because if I don't I'll probably hurl." I say with a smile, leaving my head back. He nods and I get into a comfortable position and close my eyes.

 

~0~

 

I feel someone shaking me awake; I open one eye and see Steve standing in front of me.

"We're here. Nap times over." I groan, sitting up. He starts to walk off the ramp and I see the pilots looking at me and chuckling. I feel my ears shift slightly and go back on my head and I growl escaped my mouth. They grin dropped and they looked at me with slightly scared faces.

"Kate-"Steve calls. I feel my ears shift back and my canine teeth shrink back. I give them a sweet smile before running off the ramp and following Steve into the building.

We walked into the building and I looked around, a bit shocked. Everything was covered in ash and smoke residue.

"Looks like a bomb went off in here." I whisper. He nods in reply.

"Something like that."

There's a sudden crash and he holds up a hand. I immediately stop, a hand going on the top of my gun. We look around into the different doors and down the halls. It's silent again and I feel a shiver go down my spine. This was kinda creepy.

"Ok, keep quiet and follow me." He says. I nod; pulling the 9mm out and holding it firmly in my hands.

We walk up to a door that said **stairs**. He opens it a crack, peaking in. I look behind us, down the dark hall; this was like a haunted house or something. It was freakin creepy.

“Since you wanna be a SHIELD agent we’re gonna act like this is hostile territory alright?” Steve looks back at me. I excitedly nod in reply. It’s so cool he’s actually on my side about me wanting to join the junior SHIELD program.

"Ok-" He peaks into the stairwell door again before looking back. "I'll go first, you cover me." I give a nod; he opens the door and walks in, then stops. "Just- don't shoot me in the back." I smirk.

"I'm not that reckless. My brother taught me a thing or two about war strategy and undercover operations." He smirks, walking into the stair well and we begin to climb about two flights.

After about three minutes or so we reached the top level and Steve opened the door a crack, looking in. He opened the door all the way and we began to walk down the hall. He took the right side of the hall and I just kinda walked to the left. There's another crash closer this time and he holds up a hand again.

I stop, looking around for a brief moment.

“You sure this place is deserted?” I ask nervously and look around again.

“Trust me Kate, we’re fine” He says reassuringly, looking back at me with a small smile but still serious. I just nod before my eyes start to wander again and something catches my eye and I look into the room closest to me. There was a body in the corner of the room. I feel my feet moving me toward it.

"Hey, there's a body in here." I whisper. Steve looked over at me, then at the floor, seeing something.

"No, wait- Kate, don't go in there." He says. I stop.

"What?" I stop. He was about 4 feet behind me, slightly diagonal of me.

"Something's not right." He says. I roll my eyes.

"It'll be fine-" I walk into the room and I see what he meant. I walk right through a laser detecting system and something blew out the floor. I feel the floor fall out from under me and then it went black.

 

~0~

 

"Kate... Kate!" I hear someone yelling. Ouch, god damn it, what did I land on? I feel my eyes open to slits. I move a little; feeling sore.

I open my eyes all the way and see I was about 30 feet down or so and it was pitch black besides from the whole I just fell through. I see Steve on the top floor, looking down. "Are you ok?" He calls down, sounding beyond worried.

"Yeah… I'm fine." I rub my head, sitting up. I had a long gash down my right arm. I huff. Great, just. Great. How am I gonna explain that to Pepper when she gets home from work. I look around me, it was pitch black. "Did you find any of the research?" I call up.

“Forget the damn research, are you ok?” He demands again and I roll my eyes.

“Fine, I’m perfectly fine just got a small cut. But other than that my head hurts a little. Nothing broken, it’s all good” I sum up and he was quiet for a moment. I look around and see a **stairs** sign at the back of the room that was mostly black.

“Alright, stay right there. I’m gonna come down-“

“No, there’s a stairwell door. I’ll meet you on the ground floor, just get the research and meet me there” I shrug. “You said yourself that there weren’t any hostiles here” I call up and hear him mumble something from down where I was.

“Yeah, but Kate you just gave me a heart attack. I’m gonna come down there”

“Don’t, I can fly up with my ability” I shrug.

“You could hurt yourself” Steve says back. I crawl over the rubble and slip a bit, skinning my knee.

“Shit-“ I mutter and bite my tongue.

“Language Kate” He shouts down.

“Really?” I yell up. “Please let me meet you up there. I’m not helpless!” I shout with an annoyed huff. He was quiet for several seconds and I look up at him, waiting for a response.

“Fine. You better come straight up you hear me? No detours. Take the stairs and wait in the lobby” He orders and I do a fist pump.

“Thanks!” I yell up and he nods before getting up.

“I’ll grab the research and meet you there. It’ll only take a second,” I nod before watching him disappear from view. Sighing to myself I make my way down the rubble before I get to my feet, looking around me, letting my eye sight adjust. It looked like a lab. I feel for the closest wall and feel I light switch. I flick it up and the lights flicker on. I look around me and see something that makes me blood run cold.

There were four dead bodies on the floor. Mostly burned to a crisp, their skeletons showing. I put a hand over my mouth, backing up against the wall.

Oh my god. Ok, um… Calm down Kate. This is probably just what happened when the bomb went off, or something. It’s fine. You’re good.

I take in a few deep breaths, taking a few steps forward. I finally walk up to the bodies, looking them over. Some of their clothing was still there. Something catches my eye from one of them. I kneel down looking over the remaining pieces of one of their clothing. It was a sweater with blue green and red stripes. I knew that sweater.

I feel my breath quicken and I see an ID badge on the floor. With a shaky hand I pick it up; then turn it over. I couldn’t close my mouth as my eyes began to water.

“M-Mom...?” My voice was brittle as I looked at her old badge, the plastic melted down but her face just barely visible.

I feel my body begin to shake as I looked over to the closest body. I frantically moved over to it; struggling to not let any tears escape my eyes. I pick up the ID badge and turn it over.

…Dad

I immediately drop it, scooting back across the floor til I was against the counter.

No, it's not true. It's not them! I knew they worked at a lab but this couldn't be them! It- it just couldn't. I scramble from the counter and stand up. I turn back to the bodies on the floor and feel tears start to come down my face. I begin to back up faster, feeling my breath quicken and I full blown run into someone. A small cry escapes my mouth when I turn around, almost punching Steve in the face.

“Kate I told you to-“ He stopped when he looks down at me; seeing tears streaming down my face.

"Are you ok?" He asked in a serious tone, looking worried and confused. I don't even bother answering and immediately wrap my arms around his waist and start bawling tears into the front of his suit.

Out of the corner of my eye I see him look over at the bodies slightly behind the counter. He quickly turns me around and we started walking for the door.

…

By the time we got out of the building I stopped crying but looked pretty terrified and lost in thought. We walked onto the ramp and I couldn't help but stare at the building until the ramp went up and I stared at the ramp til we got back.

 

~0~

 

Steve walked onto the bridge and threw the files down onto the table; sending Fury a glare.

"A little insight on where we were going might have been helpful Nick." He says. Fury turned, picking up the files that he had sent the Captain to retrieve.

"Well it wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't taken her with you."

"Yeah, well thanks to your lack of information, Kate got to see her dead parents who had been burned alive." Steve snaps. Fury doesn't look up as he looks through the file.

"I'm surprised she didn't remember the lab in the first place." He says. Steve stared at him for the longest time before he felt the breath leave his lungs for a second.

"You knew her parents would be there?" He said quieter, his tone suddenly very low and he tensed even more so than he already was.

"As a matter a fact it did. But at the time I had only assigned one agent to this mission so it didn't matter." He says.

"Didn't matter? Those are Kate's _parents_. You don't have any right to deliberately keep that information from her!" Steve was beyond livid at this point and didn’t even know how to react.

"Well if you hadn't brought her along this conversation would have gone much smoother don't you think?" Fury responds. Steve clenched his jaw in annoyance. "Her parents worked for SHIELD. This is what gave me the right to hide that from her. They were working on a level 10 project that went wrong, resulting in, you know who." He says. Steve didn't know how to respond. "She was about 3 years old when her mother brought her to the lab for the day when there was a mishap in their work. Kate got caught in the blast, resulting in her ability, which is permanently fused into her DNA."

"And you didn't think for one second that she, or any of us, should know any of this." He says more to himself. Fury gives him a cold glare.

"Dismissed." Steve gives him a look before his eyes went down to another file to the right of Fury’s desk. It was Kate’s file, which at this point should have all of Kate’s info including info about her parents. He looks at Fury and then grabs the file before heading to the door.

"She has a right to see this, and if you think I’m not going to be honest with her about it you’re dead wrong" Steve turns to him before walking out.

"I didn't think so." Fury replies as he walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it! Please leave a comment of kudos if you like the story or this chapter,   
> The next update will be up May 23rd (Monday)!


	21. SHIELD Likes Keeping Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry everyone! Our flight got canceled for poor weather so it was moved. We stayed a few extra days so I couldn't update this until I got back today :) Hope you all enjoy it

I can't believe that out of every science lab in the world, we just happened to stumble upon the one my parents' worked-… and died at. After coming back to the Helicarrier, Steve had an agent bring me back to the Tower while he went to talk to Fury. He seemed kinda pissed off, well not at me really. Just-…. In general I guess.

I walked up to the Tower, walking into the lobby and to the elevator door. This was one thing I would never be able to put behind me. As long as SHIELD was around, I wouldn't be able to forget about all the pain I endured this year.

There had to be more to this than there seemed to be. There's no way that my parents _aren't_ connected to SHIELD, in some sort of way. If Fury needed that information then something was up. Ok, think. What's the easiest way to get good, reliable Intel?

I let out a breath, searching my brain for answers. Oh come on, there gotta be some source that's nearby that I can easily access!-….. Clint's laptop.

I feel a grin come onto my face at me brilliant thinking. Come on, I'm a genius, admit it.

The door opens a few seconds later and I take in a breath. I peeked out of the elevator, seeing no one there. Quietly I began to walk over to the couch, seeing Clint's SHIELD laptop sitting on the cushion. I need to find out why my parents were there, and what Fury needed from that building.

I sit down and turn it on. I wait for it to come up and it turns out, it he hadn't logged out yet. I grin; clicking on previous SHIELD missions, then click on the file labeled last 6 months. Several files pop up and I find the one for the warehouse. I click on it, seeing several pictures of the people that were there with me. I recognize a few, seeing a deceased label next to their pictures.

I clench my jaw, scrolling down farther rather quickly. I see my picture and click on it, then click on relations. A big label that said **CLASSIFIED** popped up. I slam my hand on the arm of the couch. Then I hear the sound of the elevator and quickly close the laptop, tossing it back to where it was on the couch. I turn around; seeing Clint walk in.

"Hey Kate, did you have fun on the carrier?" Clint says, walking over. I nod, slowly sliding my right arm under the pillow so he didn't see the bandage. He sits down at the other couch, about to grab his laptop. Shoot, I'm dead.

"What did you do there?" He asked, stopping for a moment. I shrug.

"Not much just wandered around and stuff." I say. He gives a slow nod. He sits for a few more seconds, eyeing me. Then he stood up, walking around the couch to my right.

Before I could react he pulled the pillow off my arm. I tried to hide the bandage but it was too late.

"Would this be the other _stuff_?" He says, looking down at my arm. I curse under my breath. "What did you do?" He says. I open my mouth to speak when the elevator door opened and Steve walked out, a file in hand. I let out a breath; at least I can explain it better now.

"Hey, do you know how this happened?" Clint asked, gesturing to my arm. He slowed down, giving me a quick glance.

"Yeah, uh. We'll have to explain it in a little more detail." He says. Clint nods walking toward his laptop. "Just go under recent missions, should be the first one."

"I'll pull up the mission report." He says, plopping down on the couch and getting his laptop. Steve walks over behind him.

"Wai-" I don't have time to finish as he pulls up the top and my recent search comes onto the screen. They both see what's on the screen, and then slowly look up at me. "I-I can explain..." I start, my voice shaky.

"You don't have to." Steve says, walk around the couch and held out a file. I look up at him, then down at the file before slowly taking it. "Don't open it just yet." He says. I nod, staring at the cover anxiously. He walks back over to explain to Clint. He pulls up the mission report, reading it over.

"You got to go on your first mission?" Clint says with a grin. I nod, trying to fake smile. Clint notices and glances at Steve, who shakes his head to drop it. Clint just nods, reading over to information. His expression darkens as he continues to read it over.

I wait somewhat patiently, and then hear the elevator door open, seeing Pepper and Natasha walk out. Oh great. Now we have to explain this all over again.

"Hey guys!" Pepper calls. "Hey Kate,” She gave me a small smile. “I got a call saying you got to take a look around the Helicarrier?” She says and glances at Steve with an intrigued look. She didn’t look mad but she was giving Steve a questioning look. “Did you have fun?” She asked. I nod, not saying anything.

I really don't want to talk about this. I know it wasn't Steve's intention to have me see my dead parents on my first mission, but it was a little inconvenient that it had to happen that way. Now I honestly don't feel like being an agent really.

Natasha walked over and started to read over Clint shoulder.

"I'll be right back." I say, and then walk toward the stairs.

...

They all look up, watching Kate hastily walk for the door and disappear up the stairs.

"Why didn't Fury mention this at all?" Clint says after pulling up Kate’s file that was the electronic version of the one Kate left on the coffee table.

"Level 10." Steve answered firmly. Because that was how SHIELD worked. If you weren't clearance level whatever, it was none of your business.

"Hey parents were SHIELD agents?" Natasha says, still reading.

"Yeah, and guess where she got her ability from?" Steve says, putting a hand through his hair.

"An explosion in the lab... What were they doing?" Clint says, reading.

"She was only 3 years old when it happened... So her mother brought her to the lab because they didn't have a babysitter to watch her?" Natasha says to herself as she continued to read.

"That resulted in her ability, which is permanently fused into her DNA." Steve finishes.

"Christ." Clint mumbles. Pepper listened as they spoke amongst each other.

"Does she know?" Pepper asked, looking at Steve.

"Most of it. God, I'm such an idiot." Steve mumbles, letting himself fall onto the couch cushion Kate had been sitting on.

"You couldn't have known; none of us did." Natasha says; looking over Clint shoulder.

"What part doesn't she know about?" Pepper asked.

"About her ability and her parents being SHIELD agents." Steve says. They all glance at the file she left on the couch.

"Should we tell her?" Pepper asked.

"She should know." Clint says. Natasha and Steve nod in agreement.

…

I stared out my window, sitting at my desk. I couldn't help but think about all the memories I still had left from my parents and brother. They were getting fuzzy and I didn't want to lose any of those.

I sniffle, wiping my eyes on my shoulder. Tomorrow was Halloween. Great.

…

Steve picked up Kate’s file before standing up. He walked towards the kitchen where Pepper was placing her brief case onto the counter.

“Pepper,” He mumbles hesitantly.

“Steve don’t start, alright. I shouldn’t have snapped like I did this morning. You were right to trust Kate with that decision,” The woman cuts him off. Steve clenched his jaw before letting out a breath.

“I shouldn’t have egged her on to look into this SHIELD program. I can’t believe I just let her see the burnt bodies of her parents on that mission,” He leans forward on the counter, his head lowered. “What was I thinking” He mumbled.

“It wasn’t your fault that it happened like that Steve” Pepper says, looking over to him with a reassuring expression.

“When is Tony going to sign those damn adoption papers” He looked over at Pepper with a grim face.

“Steve, I still want you as Kate’s guardian” She smiles. “It’s gonna be rough the first few weeks. That part I know, but you gotta hang in there” She says and pats his shoulder as he stared down at the counter. “If anything she needs you to stay strong about this too,”

“I should go give her the file,” He mumbles before walking away before she could continue. Pepper sighs as Steve left and the stairwell door closed behind him.

“That man is as stubborn as a mule” Clint huffed as he was looking down Kate’s file further.

“Cut him some slack,” Natasha says back to him. “He’s just trying to figure this whole guardian thing out. He’s not exactly the most… balanced person among all of us, modernly that is,”

“I was too pushy this morning,” Pepper mumbles. “SHIELD isn’t exactly on my good list at the moment and the fact that Kate wants to be part of that after they tried to take her to the Sandbox just rubbed me the wrong way,”

“It’s understandable,” Clint laughs. “Fury was a jackass about Kate being here,”

“So when are you going to tell Steve that he already adopted Kate?” Natasha asks Pepper curiously. The strawberry haired woman sighed before smiling slightly.

“When he’s ready”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it! :D Please leave a comment and/or Kudos! Thanks for the guest kudos by the way!


	22. Looking For The Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter.

Steve walked up to Kate's door, lightly knocking before adjusting his stance.

"Kate?" He called, waiting for a response. "Hey, listen. Uh, Fury gave me the file. If you wanna look at it you can." He says. There still wasn't a response. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Kate?" He lightly turned the knob, realizing it was open. He walked into the room, looking around. The window was open.

_Oh no._ He thought.

He picked up the speed, walking to the window and looking down. No one. He backed up a little, next to the desk, seeing a note sitting on the sketch book he gave her. He picked it up, quickly reading it.

_Ok, I don't really know how to start. But than to say; I have to go away for a bit. It's none of your faults and I don't want to leave. But I have to. Steve, I know you’re probably reading this right now so let me say that I don't blame you for what I saw at the building. And I know that the information in that file is just the bits and pieces that Fury wants me to believe so I'll drop it. But I can't do that. I have to find out what happened to my parents. Please don't come looking for me, I'll be fine and hopefully will be back soon._

_Kate_

Steve quickly folded the note, running for the elevator.

 

~0~

 

"Got any 3's?" Clint asked.

"No, go fish." Tony replied. Clint huffed, picking up a card. Steve suddenly ran out of the elevator, and grabbed the file on the table. Clint turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"What's the hurry?" He asked.

"Kate's gone." He says, going for the stairs.

"What?!" He threw done his cards, hopping over the couch. "What'd ya mean she's gone?" He stands a few meters away.

"She said she needed to go look for her parents' research” Steve says back, looking for something on the floor.

"Well can we do anything?" Natasha spoke up, getting up from her seat at her SHIELD laptop.

"Yeah. Find out anything you can from SHIELD or the other people they worked for." He found what he was looking for and threw on his shoes before heading for the door.

"And I'm guessing your gonna follow her?" Natasha says. He doesn't respond as he disappeared into the stairwell.

 

~0~

**A few minutes earlier...**

I set the note down on my desk, letting out a breath.

I'm still unsure about this. I mean, I know for a fact that Steve won't approve, and neither will anyone else... But I need to know the truth. If I don't find it out for myself, then no one will tell me. I know Fury is just giving me the bits and pieces of information that don't matter, the parts that are somewhat obvious.

I put on my black leggings, a dark navy tank with the SHIELD symbol on the top left corner of the front of the shirt, and a brown leather jacket. I slipped on my black combat boots, lacing them up. Natasha gave me the SHIELD shirt when I first got here. I was uncomfortable wearing it at first.

I walk toward the window, pulling it up and looking down. I gulp. God dammit I hate heights. Ooo! - wait. I walk away from the edge and get down on my hands and knees, pulling a box out from under my bed. I open it, taking a deep breath.

Inside was my 9mm pistol that Steve made me keep. I don't know why he said to keep it in my room, but it was coming in handy now!

I grin, putting it in the back of my pants and then walk back to the window. I take a few deep breaths. Leaning out, seeing several dozen stories down. Ok, remember to shift. I slowly place my foot out on the ledge, more than half my body hanging out the window.

Suddenly there was a knock at my door.

" _Kate?_ " That was Steve. I feel my body tense, and then my foot slip. Next thing I knew I was falling and the air was rushing by my face. I feel my eyes go wide and the world was spinning around me. I could see the side of Stark Tower whipped by as I picked up speed.

Then I start to feel my form shift. Suddenly my arms turned to wings and my feet turned to talons. I was flying! I look down, seeing I had turned into a bird. I fly around in front of the tower, looking through my newly found eyes, giving me enhanced vision. I look up at my window, seeing Steve had walked into my room, glancing out the window before picking up the note.

I feel a stab of guilt as I see his expression change and he lowered his hand containing the note before running for the door. I'm feeling bad now. - But, I can stop now. I turn my head away, flying away from the tower.

 

~0~

 

I had been flying for several hours now. And since I didn't even know the exact location… this was turning out to be a bit harder than I originally thought.

I look down, seeing the rural land passing under me. I hadn't been this far out in a while. It was nice, getting away from the city for once- well, without seeing your dead parents.

I fly for a few more minutes before seeing a very familiar site. My eyes widened and I cocked my head to the side, looking down. It was my home town. I swallow, flying lower 'til I perched on a big branch on a tree. I feel my form shift back to normal and I shake my head, blinking a few times. My vision went back to normal; it was a little weird a first but it adjusted quickly.

Ok… now I have to get down. I look around, seeing I was about 20 feet in the air. I gulp. Oh god. Why the hell did I just do that?!

I swallow, inching my way to the inner part of the tree. I slowly begin to climb down, jumping the last 4 feet and landing on my ass. God damn it. I blow the bangs from my face, getting to my feet before brushing myself off.

I put hand through my hair and look around. Nothing. Happened. Ok, I need a disguise.

I look around me. There was an older lady watering some flowers, a man jogging with his dog, and two kids biking down the street. Ok, what would be the best animal to get through the neighborhood unnoticed? Well, this is a pretty rural area, so farm animals commonly get out of their pastures. I could do a dog or cat. But in my neighborhood, there are a lot of watch dogs for people who own lots of land. So I don't want to send the wrong message that I'm an escape guard dog on the loose; causing panic. And I can't be a cat, due to the large population of dogs in the area.

As the minutes began passing, I start to walk down the side of the gravel road, my arms crossed over my chest. C'mon, there's gotta be something that I can shift into that would not draw _too_ much attention but would be fun to be while I searc-

I stop in my tracks, seeing a horse pasture to my left. I feel a grin come onto my face.


	23. Grounded

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the kudos!  
> Hope everyone enjoys this chapter

Steve turned off his motorcycle before flicking up the kickstand and swinging his leg off. He looked around before pulling out his phone.

"Clint?" He started, letting his eyes search the area around him.

…

"Hey Cap, I got some info for ya." Clint says, having the phone on speaker.

" _Got a location, or maybe some coordinates?"_ Steve asked. Clint clicked a few things on his SHIELD laptop before responding.

"Well she doesn't know the exact location of the lab soooooo…." He trails off, taking a bite of his sandwich. "-she'd probably head toward her home town." He finishes, swallowing.

…

Steve looks around him; he had just driven all the way to the lab. He lets out a breath.

"Sure thing, Barton. I'll head there now." He says.

" _Have fun._ " Clint says. Steve merely rolled his eyes before hanging up; getting back on his motorcycle again.

 

~0~

**A few hours later…**

I felt my body finish shifting and I took in a deep breath, letting out a snort. I look down, seeing two hoofs. I shake my mane, looking myself over. This is freakin awesome. I swallow, looking around me seeing a small pond.

I look down at my newly found hoofs. Ok… how do you work these? I slowly lift my left front hoof, and then paw the ground. I look to my back feet. I was a jet black horse. This is awesome. I take a few steps forward. I feel a neigh escape my mouth.

This is so freakin cool. I don't know where to start with this. I'll be able jump fences and explore miles of land in the area without giving people a second thought!

I pick up speed trotting over to the pond, getting a quick drink before looking around at the other horses in the pasture with me. Ok, let's get going.

I pick up a canter as I start north toward the more- well, city area. There was at least 100 miles before I hit it, but the lab was somewhere in between.

 

~0~

**A few hours later…**

I trotted over the hill, shaking my mane from my face as I came to a halt. I saw two guys on motor bikes. I snorted, nodding my head. Well, I guess I could take a break real quick from searching.

I shake my mane from my face again before picking up a canter, getting down the hill. They were going pretty slow, about 10 mph. I cantered up beside them, the fence between us. One of them looked over; chuckling to himself before looking to his friend and nodding to me. I could see they’re exchanging of looks and they nodded to each other to speed up.

I felt my hooves pound the ground a bit faster and the canter sped up. They laughed to themselves as they picked up the speed. Now I was galloping. My neck stretched out farther and my breath staggered to the beat I was running.

35

37

40

We continued to pick up speed and they smirks fell from their faces as we reach around 45 miles per hour. That was the top speed for a horse to run at. I continued to hold the gait as best I could.

Christ, I've never run this fast before. I need to slow do-

Suddenly I realized that there was a fence ahead. Oh no. A neigh escaped my mouth as I slammed on the brakes and my front hooves struck the air as I came in contact with the fence.

_Bang!_

I crashed into the fence and hit the ground with a thud. Ow, god dammit. I'm such a klutz. I lift me head from the ground, seeing the two guys laughing and driving away. Crap, I had them!

I stumble as I try to get up, shaking my mane from my face, letting out a snort. Suddenly a pain shot through my leg as I look down. I was tangled in the god damn wires. Great.

Suddenly I heard a motor in the distance. My ears perked up as I looked to my left, back where I came. That sounded a lot like-… Suddenly a motorcycle came into view and I felt my eyes widen. It was Steve's motorcycle. Shit. No no no no no. God damn it, could this day get any more complicated.  

I feel a chill run up my spine as I try to act casual, covered in a few scratches, tangled in the fence. Ok, get up! I struggle again, this time I found myself on my feet before slipping and crashing to the ground again. A neigh escaped my mouth instead of a cry of pain as another piercing feeling shot through me like a blot of lighting.

He was getting closer darn it. I look back up. Shit, he saw me. I clumsily kick out, trying to get up again. I look up seeing him look over at me, furrowing his eyebrows and slowing his bike down.

Aw hell no. Don't let your good-patriotic side kick in, Steve. Just keep going.

But no, he pulls his bike over and swings his leg over. Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. If he sees my eyes I'm screwed. It's so easy to tell since I have a light blue and a dark blue eye. He stepped under the fence and taking a few steps forward. I feel my ears go back and I raised my head a little higher in an aggressive manner. Dude, back the hell off.

But knowing him, he decided to help and next thing I knew he was untangling the wire. I saw one of the wires go and then it was off. I jumped to my feet and for some reason didn't realize I was still attached and ended up face planting again. Another neigh escaped my mouth as I struggled more, dirt flying into the air. Jesus Christ! Come on! It can't be that strong!

"C'mon, calm down." He says, I feel him untangle the wire again and I stay still for a moment. Once he's clear, I need to bolt.

I see him look up and before looking back down at the wiring. He froze seconds later and he then looked at my face for a moment. Something changed in his expression that I didn't like. He stopped what he was doing, looking into my eyes for a moment. "…Kate?" He said quietly. I let out a snort, looking around. Kate? Who's Kate? What's a Kate?

He clenched his jaw for a moment, a thinking look on his face. I let out a snort, shaking my mane. Then I hear a snap and see the he had taken the last wire off. Go! I jumped to my feet before he could say anything else and bolted up the hill.

Wait… why did the wire make a snap sound? I look down seeing something on my lower leg. Suddenly I felt a small stab of electricity and I was on the ground in an instant. I hit the ground and neighed.

What the hell Steve!? Ow.

I rolled a few feet and came to a stop; covered in dirt. I cough and groan. - Wait, horses don't groan do they? I look down… I had shifted back. Oh no. I was about to get to my feet when I looked up, seeing Steve standing in front of me, arms crossed.

"What the hell was that!?" I yell, putting a hand to my head. He was quiet for a second.

"What'd you think you're doing?" He says. Oh no. He was pissed I could see in in his eyes, he was so mad at me… which was a first for him.

"You know what I'm doing. So why'd ya follow me?" I ask, sounding calmer now, knowing it will piss him off even more. I blow the bangs from my face, leaning on one arm; still sitting in the grass.

"Because, knowing you you're going to get yourself into trouble which can be easily avoided. And because you ran away from the tower." He says, getting a little louder. I roll my eyes, pushing myself to my feet.

"What the hell did you hit me with? And how did you know it was me?" I ask, stumbling as I got on my feet.

"Something Dr. Banner designed. It disable's your ability for a few seconds, turning you back. As long as it's on, you can't shift." He says. "It comes in handy. Especially if I need to ground you." He adds, and I send a glare at him when he cracks a smile. "And I knew it was you because one: your eye color is pretty unique when you shift, and two; you still have that gash on your arm." He says notch-handedly. I look down, seeing it had reopened when running with those two bikers. I let out a breath, looking around me. "Come on. We're going back." He says. I don't follow him when he turns to walk away.

"No." I answer plainly. He turns back, looking at me with frustration and surprise. "I need to see this through. And you can't stop me." I add. I'm so gonna get my ass grounded, if he'll go that far- which I think he's not afraid to crack down on me now. He looks at me for a moment; I can't read his expression as he puts a hand to his temple, his pointer and thumb rubbing his temples. I feel a smirk come onto my face. Welcome to the teenage years, Steve. He looked as if he were thinking for a moment before looking back up at me.

"Fine." He says. I stop, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine what?" I ask. He lets out a breath.

"I'll help you find what you need." He says. Oh thank god, I have no idea where I'm going! I smile.

"Good. Let's go!" I start to walk past him toward his bike, seeing him smirk out of the corner of my eye.

I get to his bike, hopping on the back.

"So can I take this off?" I ask. He turns the key, bringing the engine to life.

"Nope." I freeze for a moment. Excuse me?

"Um… why?"

"Because you're grounded." He says. There it is. I throw my hands in the air.

"Typical." I mutter. He chuckles before we start down the road.

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? Comments welcome :) I love reading them and it might be a little hard to get requests at the moment because you've only read the first chapter out of the current 85 on fanfiction, but don't worry if you guys have one shot requests and such I'd love to here them :)  
> Quick note- I might go ahead and post some more chapters throughout the day so you all have a little something to grasp onto and get a feel for this story.  
> Just gonna say this now- but this story is more so based around Steve's experiences and his journey (along with Kate's but almost fully in Kate's POV). And you get to see a father figure Steve later on. So if you're a Cap fan I think you all might like this! :)


End file.
